Federal government says it will begin the deduction of bailout funds to States from next month, whereby each benefitting State is expected to pay about seventeen point five billion Naira.


The total debt of States amount to six hundred and fourteen billion Naira.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Hajia Zainab Ahmed disclosed this at a public consultative forum on the 2020-2022 medium term framework and fiscal strategy paper in Abuja.


Ekwi Ajide reports that the Minister also disclosed that Civil Servants, who have not been captured in the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System by October, may not receive their monthly salary.


Hajia Zainab, said the country’s personnel cost including pension of over three trillion naira had continued to rise.
She expressed optimism that next year, Nigeria’s oil production will stand at two point one eight million barrels per day, while the exchange rate will stand at three hundred and five naira to one dollar at the inflation rate of ten point eight one percent.


The Minister indicated that the present federal government will focus more on employment generation to tackle the unemployment and underemployment rates which had remained high at twenty-three point one percent and twenty point one percent respectively as at the third quarter of 2018 owing to recession which hit the country in the third quarter of 2017.