Goodnews: Salary palava, Buhari bails out affected states with N713.7b

Worried by accumulated salaries nationwide, President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday approved the release of N713.7billion intervention funds for states.

The bail-out was part of a three-pronged relief package that will end the workers plight.

While N413.7billion represents special intervention funds, the balance of about N250billion to N300billion is a soft loan to states.

President Muhammadu Buhari

Also, N413.7billion ($2.1billion) is sourced from the recent Liquefied Natural Gas proceeds and the remaining N300billion is a Central Bank-packaged special intervention fund.

The Debt Management Office (DMO) is expected to assist states to restructure over N660billion commercial loans crippling their economy.

With the development, President Buhari has stopped deduction of monthly allocations to states at source.

Instead, the Federal Government will “use its influence to guarantee the elongation of the loans for the benefit of the states.”

But the beneficiaries of the relief package include workers in Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) who have remained unpaid for several months.