The All Progressives Congress (APC) has hailed President Muhammadu Buhari for coming to the aid of the long-suffering Nigerian workers with a multi-billion-naira package that will not only ensure that all arrears of salaries owed by many states across the country are immediately paid, but will also make it easier for the states to meet their monthly salary obligations henceforth.

In a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said it was particularly delighted that the President has shown that he is truly the father of the nation by eschewing partisanship in approving the intervention fund for all the states, irrespective of which parties they belong to.

”We say this because when states were financially handicapped during the tenure of the last federal government, opposition states were hung out to dry while states belonging to the then ruling PDP got generous bailouts,” it said.

APC said by his action, President Buhari has practicalized his deep understanding of the essence of governance which, more than anything else, is the about the well being of the citizenry.

The party said worthy of note and commendation is the fact that the special intervention fund approved by President Buhari was packaged without any external borrowing, despite the paucity of funds occasioned by the fall in the price of crude oil and the unprecedented profligacy of the immediate past administration that dried out the pot of national resources.

It said so early in the life of his administration, President Buhari is walking his talk by showing that with prudence, financial discipline and creativity, plugging financial leakages and a deep sense of patriotism, even the nation’s dwindling resources can still be more effectively utilized for the benefit of Nigerians, rather than be looted by thieving public officials who abuse their office.

APC described as uncharitable and a clear indication that shame has taken flight the situation in which those who created the rot that is now being cleared by President Buhari are the same ones daring to point accusing fingers at the government that inherited their rot.

”The PDP that spent the past 16 years plundering and pillaging Nigeria has boasted that the Nigerian people will soon come, cap in hand, to beg them to return to power. What delusion! What arrogance! Who presided over the looting and the mismanagement of public funds that made it impossible for the nation to absorb the shock of the falling oil prices? Who depleted the Excess Crude Account (ECA) without authorization? Who has degraded the standard of living of Nigerians?” the party queried.

APC said the multi-pronged package approved by President Buhari includes the sharing by the Federal and State Governments of $1.7 billion out of the $2 billion remaining in the ECA; the sharing of about $2.1billion sourced from the Lagos payment to the Federation Account; and a CBN-packaged special intervention fund that will offer financing to the states, ranging between N250billion to N300 billion, as a soft loan available to states to access for the purposes of paying backlog of salaries.

Also, the President has approved a debt relief programme that will help states restructure their commercial loans currently put at over N680billion. The implication is that the life span of such loans will be extended, while reducing the states’ debt-servicing expenditures, thus leaving the states with enough resources – which otherwise would have been removed at source by the banks – to meet their monthly salary obligations, among others.

”History is repeating itself before our very eyes. Some 31 years ago, Buhari, then as a military head of state, also inherited a huge national rot similar to what has been bequeathed to it by the NPN government and had to approve 480 million Naira for the payment of arrears of workers’ salaries. Truly, the President is a man of destiny,” the party said.

It said that with thousands of workers made destitute by the frittering away of the commonwealth under a rapacious and wasteful PDP government now being given a new lease of life, their purchasing power being boosted and the nation’s economy being reflated, the change which the President and his party promised the nation has just begun.

”We thank Nigerians for voting the APC into power at the centre and for believing in us even when the horizon became hazy, not out of our making but because of the misdeeds of the past. By their relentless support for President Buhari and the APC, Nigerians have indeed demonstrated that what is worth fighting for is worth defending,” APC said

kingphilip:
the change which the President and his party promised the nation has just begun.

This is the part I love most about the whole article

It's my hope and prayers he continues next by taking our fuel from this over #100 to the promised #20 something

The wiping out of insurgents and the free food for schools scheme not forgetting the #5000 pay for all unemployed individuals and also the comprehensive NYSC scheme

God bless kingphilip
God bless nairalanders
God bless president Muhammadu Buhari
God bless the federal Republic of Nigeria

atlwireles:


Let's make sure we understand this, APC is spending $1.7B from the ECA, another $2.1B from the LNG payment, then a N300B loan from the CBN.

This is suppose to be change in the eyes of Nigerians? Bearing in mind, the current price of oil remains the major reason for the problem most states have now and this problem is mostly likely to remain with us for another 2 years. Where will the next stopgap measure come from, when all the current savings are exhausted? In one swoop Buhari is spending almost $6B of savings and debt.

DropShot:

Tell us what you would have advised.

atlwireles:


The same thing you do in your household cut your coat according to your size. States need to reduce their workforce and reduce their wage bills. Nigeria will be back here in 90 days, what will be the solution then?

kingphilip:
the change which the President and his party promised the nation has just begun.

This is the part I love most about the whole article

It's my hope and prayers he continues next by taking our fuel from this over #100 to the promised #20 something

The wiping out of insurgents and the free food for schools scheme not forgetting the #5000 pay for all unemployed individuals and also the comprehensive NYSC scheme

God bless kingphilip
God bless nairalanders
God bless president Muhammadu Buhari
God bless the federal Republic of Nigeria

DropShot:

Whatever the states need to so, this current mess definitely needs to be cleared first and that is what the president has done reluctantly. Going forward, he has made it known that no state will ever be bailed out in this manner anymore. So, he has done well.

atlwireles:


Done well you say The man just blew his entire savings in 30 days, and the problems heading his way have not even started. The states will be back in 90 days with the price of crude oil currently projected to remain under $60 in the next two quarters. Also, what are effects of this on the economy,the value of the Naira and inflation will not like this move.

DropShot:

If you don't know that injecting abt 400bn naira into the economy is a huge positive boost, then you need to go back to basics of economy.

DropShot:

If you don't know that injecting abt 400bn naira into the economy is a huge positive boost, then you need to go back to basics of economy.

PPAngel:


Janjawiid economics.

I thought the Country is broke?

Wheredid Buhari get the money from and under which approval is he doling money to pay his corrupt financiers?