Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has said that Nigerians should be hopeful because things will get better in the country.
Osinbajo said this during an interview with journalists at the grand finale of the 25th coronation anniversary of the Akarigbo and paramount ruler of Remoland, Oba Adeniyi Sonariwo, in Sagamu,Ogun State.
He said “All things are going well, things are going to get better and better. They (Nigerians) should be very hopeful. And we know that things are just going to get better and better.”
Osinbajo also extolled the financial creativity of President Muhammadu Buhari. He said “As you know, the Federal Government under President Buhari directed that three things should be done regarding the situation of the states in Nigeria.
“We know that the states were unable to pay salaries of their workers for many months. The first stage was the sum of money that was shared from the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas dividends and taxes, amounting to $2.1b.
“The second package is a loan which the states are allowed to access. The loans are concessionary in nature and any state that deserves it should have it. The third stage is the conversion of loans owed to commercial banks by the states to bonds.
“It is fairly complicated but simply put, the state and FG will work out how the loan will be repaid over an extended period of time. We are looking at 15 to 20-year period. Some have described this as bailout but what the President did is an extremely creative and compassionate way of giving relief to states as much as possible, given the financial circumstances they found themselves.”