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Tag: Paris Club

  • Fed Govt to stop $418m Paris Club refund payment

    Fed Govt to stop $418m Paris Club refund payment

    • Court halts notes redeeming efforts

    The Federal Government has made moves to block the redemption of about 62 promissory notes issued to consultants/contractors engaged by the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) and the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) to retrieve their shares of the Paris Club refunds.

    The Federal Government, while faulting the procedure for the issuance of the promissory notes, has prayed a Federal High Court in Abuja to void the notes already issued.

    In the suit, now before Justice Inyang Ekwo, the Federal Government and three others, listed as plaintiffs, want the court to, among others, set aside all the promissory notes and issue an order of perpetual injunction restraining the defendants and their agents “from exercising any proprietary rights” over the promissory notes.

    Listed as defendants in the suit are: FSDH Merchant Bank Limited, Ned Munir Nwoko, Gregory Nangor Lar, Riok Nigeria Limited, Prince Orji Nwafor Orizu, Olaitan Bello, Dr. Ted Iseghohi Edwards, and Panic Alert Security System Limited.

    Other plaintiffs in the suit are: the Attorney General of the Federation, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, and the Accountant General of the Federation.

    The 62 promissory notes, valued at $418,953,668, were issued to the defendants on September 27, 2021 by the Debt Management Office (DMO) following judgments and orders of mandamus obtained against the Federal Government and the Minister of Finance by the defendants, who were said to have been engaged by the Federal Government and ALGON.

    The plaintiffs are contending, among others, that the promissory notes are invalid, having been wrongly issued in violation of relevant laws.

    Read Also: Ekiti okays building of dual carriageway

    They added that although the promissory notes were executed by the then Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning and the Director General of the DMO, the notes were not signed as required.

    The plaintiffs argued that “the promissory notes in issue were wrongly and unlawfully changed on the assets and revenues of the federation instead of the assets and revenues of the states and local governments, who incurred the applicable loans/debts”. 

    A Principal State Counsel in the Federal Ministry of Justice, Mr. Oyinlade Koleosho, stated in a supporting affidavit that the promissory notes were wrongly and invalidly issued against the assets of the federation. 

    The lawyer averred that sections 314 and 317 of the Constitution have separated the assets of a state or local government from the assets of the federation or the Federal Government of Nigeria.

    Koleosho added that the 62 promissory notes issued to the defendants are invalid because they were charged on the assets of the Fed Govt, who is not indebted to any of the defendants (contractors/consultants).

    The plaintiffs also claimed that the Federal Government of Nigeria did not engage any of the defendants, saying there is no valid consideration for the promissory notes issued to them (defendants). 

    According to court documents, FSDH Merchant Bank Limited was issued 10 promissory notes for the total value of $67,925,661.00, at the rate of $6,499,561.00 per note (allegedly for the benefit of Nwoko).

    Gregory Nangor Lar, who is described as Nwoko’s agent, was issued two promissory notes “for the account/benefit of the second defendant (Nwoko) for the total value of $732,511.00 at the rate of $366,256.00 per note”.

    Riok Nigeria Limited was issued 10 Federal Government of Nigeria promissory notes issued for the total value of $142,028, 941.00, at the rate of $14,202,895.00 per note.

    Prince Orji Nwafor Orizu was issued 10 promissory notes for the total value of $1,219,440.00 at the rate of $121,944.00 per promissory note.

    Olaitan Bello is said to have been issued eight promissory notes for the total value of $215,195.00 at the rate of $21,524.00 per promissory note.

    Dr. Ted Iseghohi Edwards is said to have got 10 promissory notes for the value of $159,000,000.00, at the rate of $15,900,000.00 per note.

    Panic Alert Security System Limited was also issued 10 promissory notes for the value of $47,831,920.00 being the total value of the 10 notes, with a value of $4,783,192.00 per note.

  • States to get N649bn Paris Club fund

    State governments will soon smile to the banks as the federal government has concluded plans to commence the final phase of the Paris Club debt refunds.

    Addressing journalists in Abuja on Thursday on the state of the economy, Minister of Finance Zainab Ahmed disclosed: “The total sum of N649.434 billion was verified by the Ministry as the outstanding balance to be refunded to the State Governments.”

    She also revealed the payments made by the Central Bank of Nigeria as at March 2019 stands at N691.560 billion.

    “The increase in CBN payments partly arose from exchange rate differential at the point of payment,” she said.

    Ahmed, while not divulging the status of the states with regards to the Paris Club disbursements noted “some states still have outstanding balances, which will be refunded, in due course.”

    The finance minister also stated that a total sum of N4.8 trillion was distributed to the three-tiers of government between September 2018 and April 2019 from the Federation Account noting “the sum of N784.7 billion realized from value added tax (VAT) for the same period was also shared.”

    Speaking on Nigeria’s growing debt profile, the finance minister stated “the debt increase from N12.2 trillion to N23.0 trillion is by design.”

    Read Also: FG pays $5.4bn Paris Club Refund to states

    The Federal Government, she said “designed the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) to reflate the economy to take us out of recession when we came on board and we made an assessment, it was clear that our country was going into recession.

    “When we did a research on the best way to reverse the recession was to reflate the economy and that means putting resources in the economy so that consumption will increase.”

    Based on government’s findings, she said they “designed the ERGP to borrow in the first, second and third years and in the fourth year the borrowing was supposed to start reducing. That is exactly what we have done.”

    Defending the borrowing, Zainab Ahmed said government “made sure that we borrowed to finance capital projects.

    “At the same time we went into recession there were other countries similar to Nigeria that went into recession. Some of them are still not out of recession but because of the method we adopted.

    “But the consequence of course is the increase in debt and that is why the ministry of finance and all its agencies are working to make sure that we increase revenues.”

    She reiterated “at 19.09% Debt to GDP ratio we still are the lowest comparative to countries like Brazil, South Africa that all have an average of 56% debt to GDP ratio.

    “If you look at our budget the debt service to GDP ratio is 30% but because revenues underperformed it went as high as 50% to 55%  and in some months up to 60%. So if our revenues perform optimally we are in a good place as far as revenues are concerned.”

    The finance minister said the country’s External Reserves grew from $28.3 billion in 2015 to US $44.69 billion as at May 13, 2019.

    “This represents a significant improvement that has helped to stabilize the economy, including stabilizing our exchange rates,” she stated.

    Also the Foreign Exchange (FX) market, she said, “remains relatively stable because from 2017 to now there is a significant convergence of the NIFEX and NAFEX windows and they have in fact merged by the end of November 2018.”

  • Ebonyi Labour joins Nationwide strike

    Organised Labour in Ebonyi State on Wednesday night said it was joining the Nationwide strike called by the national leadership for Thursday.

    Briefing journalists in Abakaliki, the state capital, Chairman of Nigerian Labour Congress in Ebonyi, Leornard Nkah and the Trade Union Congress Chairman, Mike Nwonu said they were in agreement with their national leadership over the issue.

    “Labour in Ebonyi state is in tandem with the organized labour of National Secretariat of NLC  and TUC and by midnight we will send our bulletin. Throughout tomorrow, we will be sending our bulletin”.

    “We have given directives to various unions to mobilize their members for the strike action. The industrial action is to put pressure on the government towards the agreement reached on the National Minimum wage for workers in the country”

    “So, we are in an agreement with the National leadership directive for the industrial action and it will be effective in the state because workers have always crave for enhance salary package”

    “We will join the industrial action; we will ensure we follow it up. We will also ensure that the agreement reached in Abuja will be implemented here in the state”.

    “Our Governor has said it in many fora including today’s meeting with us that he will pay whatever salary structure reached in the agreement over new National Minimum wage”

    Adding his voice, Mr Nwonu said the strike will be total in the state.

    Read Also: 2019: Coalition of Ebonyi youths backs Buhari

    “It will be total strike because we must submit to our National leadership. We received signal from our National leadership; NLC and TUC and today after our meeting, we have resolved to join our colleagues across the country by joining the strike action of which our bulletin is ready for circulation”.

    “We have also informed other affiliate unions for necessary action and we are to monitor it with every machinery”.

    Earlier, Governor David Umahi had met with the Leaders of the Unions in the state where he said that he will not oppose their joining strike action.

    The governor however urged the workers to be peaceful while embarking on the exercise.

    The governor disclosed that the state government has raked in over N3b from fix deposit accruing sine his administration came on board.

    He said the state policy under his watch had made it a policy that any government money that is staying in the bank beyond 24 hours must be fixed.

    He said over N2.9b of one of the ranches of the Paris Club had been given to the local government staff for salary and other entitlements.

    He noted that the past administration in the state could dd not pay pension and gratuities from 2006 till 2015.

    Governor Umahi lamented that past administration in the state could not give any account of the money recieved from the Paris Club refunds.

    “We wrote to the past administration to tell us how they spent the refund which made Ebonyi indebted to the tune of $500m, they didn’t reply and we decided to let the sleeping dog lie”

    Umahi also disclosed that UBEC counterpart funds were not paid by the previous administration, and maintained that his administration came under severe debt in the acruals from the Paris Club refunds.

    Umahi also disclosed that UBEC counterpart funds were not paid by the previous administration, and maintained that his administration came under severe debt in the acruals from the Paris Club refunds.

  • NLC to Nigerians: Interrogate political spending

    Says government must implement ICPC report on bail out fund

    President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has said that Nigerians should interrogate the sources of funds used by aspiring politicians to buy forms at exorbitant rate to contest the forth coming general elections in the country.

    Wabba said in an interview in Abuja that all aspirants, should be made to tell Nigerians how they made they money with which they are buying nomination forms to contest public office and how much tax they have paid, asking rhetorically “those who borrowed money to buy the form, how do they intend to pay back the money they borrowed?

    Wabba who was reacting to the Presidential directive to state to account for how the Paris Club refund released to them were utilized before being given the last tranche said about 80 of those displaying wealth and buying forms at exorbitant rate would disappear if they are subjected to such interrogation.

    He also said that the ICPC report on the utilization of the firs5 trance of bailout fund should be revisited and implemented to the latter, stressing that action on the Paris Club refund should not just end with mere words

    Wabba said “We have said so clearly. If you want to entrench the principle of good governance, accountability and transparency must be out watch word. A lot of stories of how the other trenches have been utilized have come out.

    “Infact, EFCC openly make some allegations and I have seen them also on the social media where it was being alleged that some people used the money to buy hotels in Lagos, and some transferred some to bureau de change.

    “We cannot sweep those issues under the carpet and think that the issue of corruption and diversion of public funds will be addressed. That is clearly our challenge in this country, and not lack of resources. The truth is that this country has enormous resources, but they are diverted.

    “The fight against corruption cannot be limited to the Centre. It must go to the hinterland, to the local government, the states and even the private sector. I have said it repeatedly that during the Economic meltdown between 2008 and 2010 that was the period we reviewed our minimum wage.

    Read Also: New Minimum wage not ready – NLC President

    “In the midst of economic meltdown, Obama reviewed the minimum wage because he believed that was what was going to kick start the economy. Thank God we are out of recession and so, this is the right time to make sure that we empower the people and not christened as the poverty Centre of the world. If workers are not empowered. We have a pool of the working poor. That is out position and we commend the statement.

    “It should not just end as a statement, but should be followed up to its logical conclusion. There should be action and we should be able to know those states that have done such things.

    “ICPC did a good job on the first trenches of bailout fund that was released and came up with a report, disclosing those states where those funds were diverted. We have called on the government and the anti graft agencies to make sure that the report is followed up and those people brought to book. But nothing has happened.

    “We have states that did not access the bailout and yet are paying salaries, Pension and gratuity as and when due. I give the example of Jigawa where ever I go to. So, it is not about paucity of funds.

    “Look at what is happening in the polity today. In my state along, more than 25 people bought form to contest for governorship of one party. That is over N500 million. Let us start from there and x-ray all of them.

    “Let them tell us their sources of income, the tax they have paid and how they generated such an interest and made money to buy those forms. If we do that, I can tell you that 80 percent of them will disappear. We should find the sources of income of all those who bought form worth over N20 million and the tax he has paid on his income.

    “Clearly speaking, it is a step in the right direction and it is something we can address. The starting point is where we are now. Everybody purchasing form, let us interrogate their sources of wealth and the report made public. Some people will run away or you should be able to tell us where and when you made so much profit and the business or farm where you made your money. If we do that, we would have sanitize the system before they get into public office.

    “If you borrow money to purchase form, how do you think they will pay. That is why the system is the way it is and we have canvassed for good governance openly.

    “So, it is a step in the right direction and it should not end there. We should know the outcome and how many states have been able to meet up with that requirement.”

  • Niger Assembly passes N21.75bn supplementary appropriation bill

    Niger Assembly passes N21.75bn supplementary appropriation bill

    The Niger House of Assembly on Wednesday passed the 2017 supplementary appropriation bill of N21.754 billion.

    The House passed the bill following the presentation of the report of the Committee on Planning and Appropriation.

    Presenting the report, Chairman of the committee, Bashir Lokogoma, said the bill was necessitated by the in flow of additional funds not envisaged during the preparation of the 2017 budget.

    He said N8.8 billion was received from the excess crude, N5.906 billion from the budget support facility, and Paris club refund of N7.210 billion.

    Lokogoma further stated that the bill had recurrent expenditure of N8.286 billion while capital expenditure was pegged at N13.467 billion.

    The committee, however, observed that the additional in flows were expended before legislative approval, saying it was unacceptable.

    The Speaker thereafter directed the Clerk of the House to forward five copies of the bill to the governor for his assent.

    The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the 2017 budget size now stands at N134.950 billion as against N116.196 billion approved initially.

    NAN

  • LG retirees in C’ River demand payment of N9bn gratuity, pension arrears

    LG retirees in C’ River demand payment of N9bn gratuity, pension arrears

    Local government retirees in Cross River have vowed to occupy all government offices in the state if the State Government fails to pay them N9 billion arrears of gratuities and pension.

    Mr Bassey Okosin, state Chairman, Association of Local Government Pensioners who dropped the hint at news briefing on Tuesday in Calabar, said the debt had been owed for 11 years now.

    Okosin said the Gov. Ben Ayade-led administration had been given one month within which it must begin to pay the gratuity and pension arrears owed them from 2007 to 2018.

    She expressed displeasure over the neglect of local government retirees in the state and emphasised that they would embark on a protest on or after Feb. 16.

    “Our state governor has received one part of the bailout fund and two tranches of the Paris Club refund, yet, no single local government retirees has been paid.

    “We heard that the Federal Government had released the funds for the primary purpose of clearing all outstanding salaries, pensions and gratuities; why then are we not paid?

    “As of today, we have an average of 25 local government workers retiring from service monthly.

    “If we don’t receive this money under one month, the 5,600 pensioners in Cross River will occupy all relevant government offices until we are paid.

    “Some people who are retiring now can no longer be captured in the nominal roll because from what we heard, the list is filled up.

    “We are appealing to the state government to allocate some of the monies received to us.

    In addition, we want the state government to allocate 15 per cent of the monthly allocation from the federation account to retirees’’, he said.

    The chairman expressed regrets that they had been denied their entitlements, saying that they were told that the bailout and the Paris Club refunds did not cover local government pensioners.

    According to him, more than 600 local government pensioners’ names that were omitted during the 2016 personal audit were still outstanding.

    “We have exhausted all known means of reaching out to the relevant arms of government without result.

    “We have taken a decision to pack our loads and live in all the offices that are responsible for the payment of these entitlements until further notice.

    “This is not a threat but what is likely to happen in the next one month.

    “All our members have mobilised themselves from all the 18 local government areas of the state for this exercise’’, he said.

    NAN

  • NUT directs members not to resume schools in states owing salary arrears

    NUT directs members not to resume schools in states owing salary arrears

    The Nigeria Union of Teachers ( NUT ) has restated its position that the teachers in 10 states that are still owing salary arrears should not resume work until all arrears were paid.

    Dr Mike Ike-Ene, General-Secretary of the union, spoke on the directive in an interview on Monday in Abuja.

    Ike-Ene said that 10 out of 36 states still owed teachers several months of salary arrears in spite of the Paris Club Refund given to states by President Muhammadu Buhari.

    He listed the states to include; Abia, Adamawa, Bayelsa, Benue, Delta, Ekiti, Kogi, Ondo, Kwara and Taraba, describing them as chronic debtors as far as teachers’ salaries are concerned.

    According to him, Abia owes primary school teachers four months and secondary school teachers one month, Adamawa; two months to primary school teachers and one month to secondary.

    “Others are Bayelsa; seven and half months to primary school teachers and four and half months to secondary, Benue owes 12 months to primary school teachers and seven months to secondary.

    “Ekiti owes eight months to primary school teachers and five months to secondary, Kogi; three months to primary school teachers and three months to secondary.

    “Taraba; six months to primary school teachers, Delta; four months to primary school and one month to secondary. Kwara and Ondo owe teachers three and four months’ salary arrears of 2016 respectively,’’ he explained.

    Ike-Ene said that the union has directed its members in the affected states, especially the primary school teachers not to resume work until all the arrears were cleared.

    He also said that NUT had in 2017, appealed to the governors concerned to use the period of the Christmas holiday to clear all the arrears, but yet some still failed to do so.

    President Muhammadu Buhari had in 2017, advised state governors to use the Paris Club Refund to liquidate any form of arrears they owe workers.

    NAN

  • NLC to governors: use Paris Club refund to pay salaries

    NLC to governors: use Paris Club refund to pay salaries

    The Nigeria Labour Congress ( NLC ) has asked state governors to prioritise their activities and ensure that they use Paris Club refund to pay workers’ salaries and pension.

    President of Congress, Comrade Abubakar Wabba told The Nation that governors, who have refused to pay salaries and pension were not doing so because of the lack of money, but because they have not considered the payment of salaries as a priority.

    He urged workers to ensure that such governors are voted out during the next election.

    Wabba said: “Most of the governors have abuse the trust of the President Muhammadu Buhari, especially those that are not paying. They will go begging that once the money is released, they will use it to pay salaries. This is about the third episode.

    “The Chairman of the Governors Forum once made a promise publicly that they were going to use the money to pay salaries. Even in his own state, he did not use the money to address Labour issues. So, we are tired of this whole deceit of going to beg the President because they know he is passionate about workers and pensioners.

    “They will get money and come back to do something different. In states where they are not paying salaries and pension, you have seen what is happening with the rate of crime on the increase and people dying from starvation and frustration, while kidnapping is on the increase.”

    Wabba said the governors should know that it is in their own interest to pay workers and pensioners their entitlements.

    He noted that social consequence of not paying is glaring in those states because of the rise in criminal activities there.

    The NLC President said: “Our position usually is that they should prioritise the payment of workers and pensioners entitlement because there is no way you can have peace and development if workers entitlements are not being paid. It is arising from that that the President has continually told them to go and settle these liabilities.

    “We hope that with the little commitment they have made, it will work out this time around. If they pay, fine, but if they don’t pay, they should also know that they will not receive the support of the workers and pensioners. Right now, there are about nine states that are in this situation and we use this medium to thank those governors that are paying as and when due.

    “If they don’t pay, we have said it over and over again that workers should vote them out. They should know that if they don’t pay, the workers will not support them and if they pay, the workers will be happy and support them. That is the position we have taken long before now and that position has not changed.

    “For governors that have done well, we have asked workers to go and support them. It is actually in their own interest to settle all categories of workers so that workers can support them and also be very productive.”

  • Colleges of Education lecturers threaten indefinite strike

    Colleges of Education lecturers threaten indefinite strike

    Lecturers in Colleges of Education under the auspices of Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) on Friday accused the federal government of stalling the growth of workers in the nation’s Colleges of Education through the Non promotion of lecturers in the system and withholding their checkoff dues in total violation of the Trade Union Act.

    The lecturers are not happy with the government over the stalling of renegotiation of its agreement with unions in the Sector, blaming the leadership of the Committee of Provosts for the stalled renegotiation and called on the Minister of Education to immediately call call the leadership to order or face a nation wide Industrial action.

    Addressing a news conference in Abuja, National President of the Union, Comrade Nuhu Ogirima said the union was giving the government two weeks within which to call the Chairman of the Committee of Provost, Prof Okechukwu Ogbuagu to order and recommence the renegotiation or face what he called system shut down”

    He also accused the Accountant General of the Federation of withholding check off dues of members of the union and contributions of staff into the staff welfare cooperative society in contravention of the Trade Union Act.

    While describing the action of the Accountant General as unacceptable, Comrade Ogirima said the Trade Union Act stipulates that check off dues shall be deducted from staff and remitted to the unions within two weeks, pointing out that it is an act of illegality for the government, through the Accountant General to hold on to union dues.

    He explained that the explanation from the office of the Accountant General was that the government has recently developed a new template for the payment of salaries which does not recognize check off due, adding that such an action was unacceptable as it violates the laws of the land.

    He reminded the Accountant General that withholding cooperative contributions from workers was also an illegal act saying “do we really need to remind government t that the deductions for cooperative societies are hard earned monies of staff struggling for survival amidst the contemporary exploitative and harsh economic realities of our dear country?

    Ogirima complained of the the shortfall in their salaries since 2015 and the Non payment of Peculiar Academic Allowances since 2014, saying “we know that the government is making effort to pay other sister institutions such allowances, bug in our own case, they are not bothered”.

    He expressed sadness that despite the Paris Club refund to states, several state government have refused to pay the salaries of lecturers in their Colleges of Education ranging from 8 to 28 months.

    He accused the Kaduna and Niger state governments of refusing to implement the CONPCASS salary structure in their states, but instead are still paying their lecturers based on the old CONTISS.

    He asked the Governors of the two states to take verifiable steps towards Implementing the current salary structure for the Colleges of Education, while asking the various states owing arrears and salary and promotion to commence immediate payment or face Industrial action.

    He said the government should not hold them responsible for any break down if Industrial harmony in the Sector, stressing they may be compelled to “do what we are not known for. We have refrained from going on strike because of the respect we have for the President and because of the intervention of National Commission for Colleges of Education. But our patience is running out”.

  • Paris Club refund: Three more governors indicted

    Paris Club refund: Three more governors indicted

    EFCC uncovers another slush account

    Release of third tranche threatened

    Three more governors are believed to have diverted the London-Paris Club refund,  Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) sources said yesterday.

    Besides, another slush account has been uncovered.

    The governors and their cronies are under investigation.

    Some of those implicated in the mismanagement and diversion of the refund will soon face trial, The Nation learnt.

    Governors have been pushing for the release of the third tranche of the refund. President Muhammadu Buhari is said to be weighing the request.

    Security reports allegedly indicted some governors of gross abuse of the cash.

    According to a source, who gave an update on the investigation of the refund, all suspects will be brought to book.

    The source said: “As part of the ongoing probe, we have traced diversion of funds to three more governors and their cronies. This is apart from two governors who have  been fingered in such deals.

    “Detectives have also uncovered another account opened by the Nigeria Governors Forum(NGF) where suspicious transactions related to the London-Paris Club refund have been found.

    ‘We have rated this new discovery as a slush account. This is aside the two accounts on which we placed Post No Debit(PNB).”

    According to the source, “more consultants have confessed  that they were paid for jobs not done.

    “So, we have cases of diversion of public funds into private accounts under the guise of consultancy fees. This explains why salaries have not been paid in some states”, the source added.

    He went on: “We will release the details to the public very soon. All the suspects will certainly face trial. Those who have immunity will face the consequences, no matter how long it takes.

    “Already, one of the governors has forfeited N500million and another crony of the second governor has refunded $500,000 out of $3million linked to his account.

    “We have also applied for the forfeiture of over N1.823billion by some consultants hired by the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF).”

    Following protests by states against over deductions for external debt service between 1995 and 2002, President Buhari had approved the release of N522.74 billion (first tranche) to states as refunds pending reconciliation of records.

    Each state was entitled to a cap of N14.5 billion being 25% of the amounts claimed.

    The second tranche of N243, 795,465,195.20 was also disbursed to states in July.

    Minister of Finance Mrs. Kemi Adeosun said the payment of the claims would enable states to offset outstanding salaries and pension which had been “causing considerable hardship”.

    The governors had sought for the refund to states and local governments at a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari on May 24, 2016.

    The Finance ministry said it was reviewing the impact of these releases on the level of arrears owed by the various states.

    “The releases were conditional upon a minimum of 75 per cent being applied to the payment of workers’ salaries and pensions for states that owe salaries and pension,” Salisu Dambatta, a Finance ministry spokesperson said in the statement.

    The Senate plans to probe how the refund and bailout funds to states by Buhari were approved.

    The Senate’s decision followed a point of order raised by Sen. Samuel Anyanwu (PDP- Imo).

    Buhari is said to be weighing on whether or not to release the third tranche of the refund to states.

    A Presidency source said: “Although the governors agreed at the National Economic Council meeting to demand for the third tranche, the President has the final say.

    “From the security reports available to the President, some of the governors allegedly misused the refunds. A few of them devoted 20% -30% to payment of salaries. And some diverted the cash.”

    Advocates of true federalism have argued that the Presidency has no right to held on to the cash because it belong to the states.

    “The most feasible option is to impose stiffer conditions  on how to access and use the refunds. There might be stiffer monitoring of the utilisation of the London-Paris Club cash,” a source said.

    Read Also: EFCC raises panel to grill ex-SGF Lawal, seven others