The Governors of the 36 States of the Federation have demanded for fresh bailout from President MUhammadu Buhari.
The Governors made the demand when they met with the President at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Buhari had at the meeting questioned the usage of the funds released to the Governors from the refunds of the Paris Club and London Club debts over deduction.
But speaking with newsmen after the meeting, which lasted about two hours, the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum and Governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari, said the governors demanded for the release of the balance of the bailout funds.
Yari said “We are here on behalf of the 36 state governors and this is a result of the collective decision to see the President after the National Economic Council meeting last month.
“Our mission here is simple: We are here to thank Mr. President for his concern about the state of the economy and for giving us several supports, ranging from bailout, restructuring our debts, Paris Club exit payment.
“We also told him that we think that it was because of his decision to grant us bailouts and pay the refund of the Paris Club loan that many Nigerians are criticising him.
“This is the reason why we got out of recession.
“We thank the President for that and at the same time, as a father, we said to him Mr. President, you remember that in 2016, we presented to you the numbers of Paris Club loan exit funds, which we agreed and you directed we be paid 50 per cent and the remaining 50 per cent, upon reconciliation.
“Reconciliation has been on since 2016.
“We are hoping that both the Debt Management Office, Ministry of Finance, Attorney General of the Federation and our consultants are concluding this reconciliation by November.
“So, we want to crave your indulgence so that we can factor the numbers into our 2018 budget, so that we can use it for projects and other recurrent spending according to the specification given by our respective Houses of Assembly.
“And that’s why we are here.
“Mr. President was prompt being that he has a representative in the National Economic Council, that is the Vice-President, and the Minister of Finance is away.
“We are going to work on the numbers when he (Buhari) returns from his trip.
“We are going to follow up this meeting with him so that we can conclude on what is going to be done next.”
Buhari is expected to leave Nigeria for Turkey on a State Visit and to attend the D-8 Summit.
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