NAIRAMETRICS

The Federal Government has refunded N27 billion to Bayelsa State as the money the State government spent on federal projects since 2005 to date.

This was disclosed by the Bayelsa State government on Sunday, as it said the amount is not up to the N38 billion approved by the FG as refunds for federal road projects.

State Governor, Douye Diri said that the state only received an N27 billion cash refund, meanwhile, the Technical Adviser on Treasury and Accounts to the governor, Timipre Seipulo, disclosed that the debt instrument issued by the federal government had a tenor of between four to five years maturity.

Seipulo added that the refund was implemented such that the states would wait between four to five years to access the full amount approved by the FG, therefore States could only get discounted refunds from the FG.

He added that the N27 billion amount was discounted 71% from the total N38 billion expected value.

What you should know

Nairametrics reported in November 2020, that Promissory notes worth N148.141billion were approved by the Senate as a refund to Bayelsa, Cross River, Ondo, Osun, and the Rivers States for projects executed on behalf of the Federal Government.

The amount due to the five states was N148.14billion and broken down as follows:

• Bayelsa was allotted N38.40billion
• Cross River was allotted N18.39billion
• Ondo was allotted N7.82billion
• Osun was allotted N4.57billion
• Rivers was allotted N78.95billion

Nairametrics also reported that the Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, stated that the Federal Government refunded the South-South State the sum of N78 billion, representing the amount spent on federal roads by the state.