Nigerian governors advised the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government to take some urgent steps as part of coordinated efforts to instil fiscal discipline and prevent the nation from economic collapse.
The governors made the proposal at a meeting with Mr Buhari last month, PREMIUM TIMES gathered from sources privy to details of the meeting.
This newspaper reported that the governors advised the federal government to offer federal civil servants who are older than 50 years a one-off retirement package to exit the service.
They equally urged the federal government to immediately put an end to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s financing of the government’s budgetary expenditures and convert its N19 trillion debt into a 100-year bond.
The governors were concerned about the deteriorating state of the economy and the ripple effect on the nation ahead of the 2023 general elections.
Earlier in the week, a PREMIUM TIMES analysis of Nigeria’s external reserves revealed that the figures amount to only $15 billion, well below the $36 billion balance on the gross external reserves claimed by the central bank. With the nation spending N5.9 trillion on imports in the first quarter of the year, reserves of $15 billion would barely cover four months of imports.
Last week, details emerged that the balance in Nigeria’s Excess Crude Account had depleted significantly from $35.37 million to $376,655, leaving the nation with no buffers to stabilize the economy and its currency. Yet another indication emerged recently that the nation was broke as debt service surpassed revenue.
According to details of the 2022 fiscal performance report for January through April, Nigeria’s total revenue stood at N1.63 trillion while debt servicing stood at N1.94 trillion, showing a variance of over N300 billion.
Credit: premiumtimesng.com
