The Federal Government has announced a N5 billion palliative for each State of the Federation, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), to cushion the impact of the removal of the petrol subsidy.
Governor of Borno State, Babagana Zulum, made the announcement in Abuja yesterday, when he spoke to State House correspondents at the end of a National Economic Council (NEC) meeting.
Vice-President Kashim Shettima presided over the meeting.
The Council is made up of governors of the 36 States, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other co-opted government officials.
The development is coming 24 hours after NNPC Limited disclosed that it has signed a Commitment Letter and Term Sheet with Afrexim Bank for an emergency $3 billion crude oil repayment loan.
The company said the agreement was jointly signed by both parties at the bank’s headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.
NNPC Limited, in an issued press statement, explained that the loan “will provide some immediate disbursement that will enable the NNPC Ltd to support the Federal Government in its ongoing fiscal and monetary policy reforms aimed at stabilising the exchange rate market”.
Recall that last week, the Federal Government reported a 13.6 percent drop in daily crude oil production in the month of July, leaving the country seriously short of dollar revenues from crude oil export.
