The Federal Government has finally released a breakdown of the first tranche of Paris Club refunds paid to states to date.
The payments, totalling N516.38 billion, were made to the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory upon the approval of President Muhammadu Buhari in November, 2016
The funds are in partial settlement of longstanding claims by State Governments relating to over-deductions from their Federation Account Allocation Committee allocation for external debt service arising between 1995 and 2002.
The debt service deductions are in respect of the Paris Club, London Club and Multilateral debts of the FG and States.
The government had initially turned down repeated requests to release the payment details.
The releases were conditional upon a minimum of 50 per cent being applied to the payment of workers’ salaries and pensions.
