President Tinubu on Sunday announced the release of ₦570bn to the 36 states to expand livelihood support to their citizens amidst the ongoing nationwide protests.
He stated this during his nationwide broadcast to Nigerians, as he disclosed that ₦9.1tn was accumulated as total fiscal revenue to the Federal Government’s coffers during the first half of 2024, marking a significant increase from what was earned by the previous administration.
According to President Tinubu, the debt reduction has provided the country with greater financial freedom, allowing for increased spending on essential social services such as education and healthcare.
Also, the president said this financial relief has enabled state and local governments receive the highest allocations from the Federation Account in the nation’s history.
“Coming from a place where our country spent 97 per cent of all our revenue on debt service; we have been able to reduce that to 68 per cent in the last 13 months.
“We have also cleared legitimate outstanding foreign exchange obligations of about $5bn without any adverse impact on our programmes.
Also Read: Protests: There Is Hunger, Poverty In Nigeria – Adamawa Governor
“This has given us more financial freedom and the room to spend more money on you, our citizens, to fund essential social services like education and healthcare,” he stated.
Is Protest Really The Answer?