The Federal Government on Friday released details of what each state got from the first tranche of Paris Club refunds, showing Rivers State as the biggest beneficiary.

It got N34.9 billion. Delta followed with N27.6b, Akwa Ibom got N25.98 billion and Bayelsa N24.89b.

Cross River and Edo states got about N12.1 billion each.

The refund was based on over deductions from the accounts of the 36 states and the 774 local councils between 1995 and 2002.

These payments which totalled N516.38bn were made to the 36 states plus FCT upon the approval of Present Muhammadu Buhari on November 21st 2016 in partial settlement of long standing claims by State Governments relating to over-deductions from their Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) allocation for external debt service arising between 1995 and 2002.

These debt service deductions are in respect of the Paris Club, London Club and Multilateral debts of the FG and states. While Nigeria reached a final agreement for debt relief with the Paris Club in October 2005, some States had already been overcharged.

The funds were released to State Governments as part of the wider efforts to stimulate the economy and were specifically designed to support states in meeting salary and other obligations, thereby alleviating the challenges faced by workers. The releases were conditional upon a minimum of 50 per cent being applied to the payment of workers’ salaries and pensions. The Federal Ministry of Finance is reviewing the impact of these releases on the level of arrears owed by State Governments.

A detailed report is being compiled for presentation to the Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, as part of the process for approval for the release of any other tranche, according to a statement by the Federal Ministry of Finance.

Below is the state-by-state breakdown

S/N STATE TOTAL AMOUNT PAID IN NGN

1 Abia 11,431,531,742.97

2 Adamawa 10,257,434,321.63

3 Akwa Ibom 25,981,255,165.12

4 Anambra 12,243,313,404.68

5 Bauchi 13,755,553,122.51

6 Bayelsa 24,895,696,347.55

7 Benue 13,709,343,498.51

8 Borno 14,681,869,730.6

9. Cross River 12,150,687,893.85

10 Delta 27,606,963,362.46

11 Ebonyi 9,016,166,759.96

12 Edo 12,182,253,184.99

13 Ekiti 9,545,673,294.17

14 Enugu 10,723,578,819.32

15 Gombe 8,945,755,396.38

16 Imo 14,001,610,365.94

17 Jigawa 14,215,333,413.52

18 Kaduna 15,443,458,455.10

19 Kano 21,740,390,362.48

20 Katsina 16,404,261,819.71

21 Kebbi 11,954,998,982.90

22 Kogi 12,055,455,191.60

23 Kwara 10,241,288,653.14

24 Lagos 16,743,876,266.21

25 Nasarawa 9,102,098,342.24

26 Niger 14,421,586,309.89

27 Ogun 11,478,749,388.92

28 Ondo 14,007,296,628.57

29 Osun 12,628,212,681.25

30 Oyo 13,315,423,054.25

31 Plateau 11,288,158,110.82

32 Rivers 34,925,785,322.06

33 Sokoto 12,882,257,093.52

34 Taraba 9,326,607,975.00

35 Yobe 10,826,206,233.18

36 Zamfara 10,884,771,188.99

37 FCT 1,369,735,000.09

TOTAL 516,384,636,883.81

•Text courtesy of NAN.

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