The federal government has said that it will begin to deduct the N614 billion conditional budget support loan given to states by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to pay salary arrears from the September federal allocations.
The minister of finance, budget and national planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed who announced this at the public presentation of draft 2020 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF/FSP) in Abuja yesterday said the amount was a conditional budget support provided by the CBN to help states pay salaries, gratuities and pensions.
It would be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari had, few weeks back, set up a committee comprising some governors, CBN governor and Ahmed to work out modalities of how the loan would be repaid.
“CBN provided N650 billion in loans at nine percent with a moratorium of two years.
“The federal ministry of finance helped in disbursements with documented approval by the presidency. The money belongs to CBN and is going to be paid into CBN account,” said Ahmed.
The minister also disclosed that the president had given a deadline of October 2019 for every ministry, department and agencies (MDAs) to be enrolled into the Integrated Personnel Payroll System (IPPIS).
She said personnel costs had continued to rise such that N3.0 trillion was being devoted to it in 2020.
