Paris Club Debt: FG grants NGF's request to halt deductions from states' accounts

Paris Club Debt: FG grants NGF’s request to halt deductions from states’ accounts

The Federal Government has granted the request of the Nigeria Governor’s Forum (NGF) to halt further deductions from states’ accounts “to meet Local Government Councils London/Paris Club obligations”.

This was contained in a communiqué issued at the end of the NGF meeting which was held in Abuja on Tuesday.

The brief communiqué, signed by the outgoing NGF Chairman and Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, reads, “Members were briefed by the Chairman of the forum that the Minister of Finance (Zainab Ahmed) has granted the request of the forum to immediately stop further deductions from the accounts of states to meet Local Government Councils London Paris Club obligations and the monies so far deducted be paid back to the states”.

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The London/Paris Club obligations and deductions have been a major cause of dispute between the Federal Government and states.

Recall that in November 2022, the governors had kicked against the payment of $418 million and the promissory notes issued to the Paris Club consultants by the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Debt Management Office and vowed to continue to explore all legal channels available to them in ensuring that resources belonging to states are not unjustly or illegally paid to a few in the guise of consultancies.

Meanwhile, at the meeting, the NGF unanimously elected the Governor of Kwara State, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, and the Governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde as chairman and vice chairman, respectively.

Governor AbdulRazaq succeeded Tambuwal, who held the position of chairman since last year. The immediate past governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, was substantive chairman until his second term in office ended last year.

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