APC group commends Buhari on payment of N2tr budget support to states

The All progressives Congress (APC) Legacy and Awareness Campaign Team has commended President Muhammadu Buhari for paying bailout funds and budget support amounting to N2 trillion to the 36 states of the federation in the last six years.

Led by Ismail Ahmed, the group explained that this was besides providing overdue Paris Club refunds ($5.4 billion) and refunds for federal road projects (N700 billion) to support to states.

In a statement issued in Abuja, it argued that the development signalled a paradigm shift for federal and state governments relationship since the return to democratic rule in 1999.

While previewing the achievement of the APC-led administration, it assured that the era of Federal interference in subnational affairs, resulting in illegal impeachment of governors, withholding of state funds, balkanisation of the Nigerian Governors Forum had ended.

The team maintained that the APC administration had pursued reforms aimed at laying a solid and sustainable foundation for the greatness of the country.

It contended that more roads and rail infrastructure were being built and completed since 2015, than in the 16 years between 1999 and 2015.

“Several infrastructure initiatives are being implemented by the Buhari administration, from the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) to the Infrastructure Company (InfraCo), Highway Development Maintenance Initiative (HDMI), the Sovereign Sukuk Bonds (that has raised close to $1 billion), and Infrastructure Tax Credit Scheme, all which are unprecedented in the development and upgrading national infrastructure.

“President Buhari’s commitment to completing abandoned and unfinished projects inherited from previous administrations is also commendable.

Through landmark initiatives like the Anchor Borrowers Programme and the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative, farmers across the country have benefited from improved access to land, inputs, credit and fertilizers, while private sector investors have invested over $1 billion in cultivation, milling and processing,” the group said.

The group also maintained that the presidential mandates to expand coverage of the Treasury Single Account (TFA) and Integrated Public Payroll Information System (IPPIS) to Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), Automation of the Federal Budgeting Process, Automation of Import Duty Exemption, Electronic Visas, the launch of the Open Treasury Portal, National Digital Identification, were initiatives aimed at boosting the economy and infusing best practices in the polity.

“By creating the first National Social Safety Net in the history of Nigeria, the country has since 2016 built the largest social investment programme in Africa, with over 10 million beneficiaries receiving either Cash Transfers, Micro-Credit, School Feeding, N-Power Stipends or Special Public Works Programme in the 774 councils of the country, among other initiatives,” it added.