FG TO INJECT N350 BILLION INTO ECONOMY NEXT WEEK
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ismayed by the steady decline of
Nigeria’s economy and its disturbing impact on Nigerians, the Federal
Government yesterday said that plans have been concluded to inject N350 billion
into the economy next week in order to stimulate economic activities.
It also noted that the process of
obtaining $1 billion Eurobond had commenced, noting that it would be concluded
before this year ends.
The government further stated that
its pledged feeding programme, recruitment of 500.000 teachers and payment of
N5000 to vulnerable citizens would commence this month.
These came as the Senate, Comrade
Joe Ajero-led Nigeria Labour Congress,NLC, and Nigerian Insurers Association
hailed the development but demanded more measures in order to ameliorate the
hardship across the land.
However, capital market operators
said that FG’s decision would not have any noticeable impact on the economy,
while contractors under the auspices of Federation of Construction Industry,
FOCI, lamented that they were being owed over N2 trillion by the federal
government.
Nonetheless, the Minister of
Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, who revealed the government’s plan yesterday in
Abuja while briefing newsmen, said the funds would be paid to Ministries, Departments
and Agencies, MDAs.
In addition, she said when the N350
billion would be released, it would mean that the federal government had
disbursed N750 billion for capital projects this year having released N400
billion earlier.
While stating that N60 billion had
been set aside for social investment, Adeosun said the funds so far released
went into on-going projects especially defence, transportation, interior, power
and agricultural projects.
The minister revealed that
Integrated Personnel Payrolls Information System ,IPPIS, had eliminated about
40, 000 ghost workers, thereby saving N10 billion for the country monthly.
In that light, she noted that
government’s wage bill had been reduced from N165 billion to about N155 billion
monthly. Continuing, she added that a fresh forensic audit of the payrolls
would be carried out, stating that about 30, 000 workers currently on the
payroll are not on the nominal rolls of MDAs.
Shedding light on the plan to raise
$I billion Eurobond, Director-General of Debt Management Office ,DMO, Dr.
Abraham Nwankwo , said: “On the Eurobond, we intend to raise the money before
the year ends.
In terms of the progress made so
far, more than five weeks ago we put an advert for Request For Proposals,RFPs,
in local and international media, following due process to allow our
transaction partners who are interested to compete .
“The closing date for the RFPs is
September 19, 2016. Immediately after that, we will fast track the process of
vetting and selection.
“We have a directive to make sure we
use a minimum time to conclude all these activities.
So we assure you that we are going
to cut the time because of the emergency situation to be able to realise the
money .
Before the middle of December, we
will have the money. “However, based on the directive of the minister, by the
time we reach a stage, it might be possible to conduct certain arrangement once
we are sure of when we are going to raise the money.
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