The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday revealed that 19 out of the 27 states of the federation have accessed the bailout funds, and are expected to repay the loans in 20 years.
This was revealed by the CBN spokesman, Ibrahim mu’azu, who stated that the decision was approved by the National Economic Council (NEC) and that the beneficiary states which had benefitted from the workers’ salary bailout package are expected to deploy the funds to pay the workers’ salary arrears.
He said contrary to reports that Ogun State had accessed N20 billion, spokesman confirmed that the actual amount is N18.9 billion.
On the tenor of the bailout facility, he said that all the states had a 20-year tenor except Ogun which opted for a 10-year tenor.
Earlier, states like Kwara, Zamfara, Osun, Niger, Bauchi, Gombe, Abia, Adamawa, Ondo and Kebbi had applied for and received various sums from the bailout facility.
Other states included Ekiti, Imo, Ebonyi, Ogun, Plateau, Nassarawa, Sokoto, Edo and Oyo which were granted in the week.
CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele earlier told the NEC meeting that 18 states – up from 11 as at last month – had benefited from the Special Intervention Fund aspect of the presidential relief package.
He said the loan was part of President Muhammadu Buhari’s relief package designed to help states pay backlog of salaries and ease their financial challenges caused by the drop in allocation from the Federation Account.
Also, the Director-General of the Debt Management Office, DMO, Mr. Abraham Nwankwo, told the NEC that the second phase of the debt restructuring offered to the states was in effect, with 13 new states now being considered.