Nasarawa State’s monthly allocation from the Federation Account has risen from about ₦4.5 billion to approximately ₦16 billion under President Bola Tinubu’s economic reforms, Governor Abdullahi Sule has said.
Sule, according to a statement by Director of Media and Publicity Tunde Rahman, disclosed this in Lafia when he received the Renewed Hope Ambassadors National Media Tour, led by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.
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The governor said the higher allocation had given the state more money to undertake major projects and respond to the needs of its citizens.
He traced the rise in available funds to the removal of fuel subsidy and other economic reforms introduced by the Tinubu administration.
More money for Nasarawa projects
Sule said Nasarawa had previously received between ₦3.8 billion and ₦4.5 billion monthly from the Federation Account.
He said the lower allocation limited the state government’s ability to undertake major capital projects.
“For us in Nasarawa State, we are very transparent. I came from the private sector, so, every contract I give, I announce the amount that we are spending on that contract, so that people can now see the difference with the kind of money we are receiving.
“I can tell you for free, you are right when you say that the first four years of my administration, everybody knows Nigeria was sharing anything between maybe ₦590 billion to about ₦620 billion monthly,” he said.
The governor said the increased resources had enabled his administration to undertake projects in road infrastructure, industrialisation, education, healthcare and water supply.
He said the economic reforms had created more fiscal space for the state to carry out projects across Nasarawa.
Sule also said the reforms created difficulties at the beginning but maintained that Tinubu accepted responsibility for the decisions.
He said clear communication was needed to help citizens understand government policies, especially when such policies created difficulties at the start.
The governor said Tinubu “took the bullet” on behalf of states and local governments by creating more funds for the three levels of government.
“Today, we are beginning to see the benefits because the resources available to us have increased tremendously,” he said.
The governor also expressed optimism that continued implementation of the Federal Government’s economic reforms would improve the financial position of states.
Journalists inspect projects
The Renewed Hope Ambassadors National Media Tour comprises presidential media aides and more than 50 senior journalists.
The team is inspecting Federal and state government projects in North-Central states.
During its visit to Nasarawa on Saturday, the team inspected the completed state secretariat along Shendam Road.
The secretariat houses the Ministries of Education, Housing and Urban Development, Health and Justice. The team also inspected a one-megawatt solar farm powering the complex.
Other projects inspected included the completed 16-kilometre Makurdi bypass in Lafia, which connects Nasarawa and Benue states.
The team also visited the Wing Commander Abdullahi Ibrahim Vocational and Skills Acquisition Centre, the Shinge Waterstorm Channel and the completed Kilema Bridge along the Lafia-Doma road.
Onanuga praised Tinubu for removing fuel subsidy and introducing economic reforms that previous administrations had recognised as necessary but postponed.
“Actually, when President Tinubu came in 2023, he initiated some audacious reforms that ought to have been introduced some decades ago. But the country kept postponing them until he came, and from Day One uttered that famous phrase “subsidy is gone.””
He said the administration later floated the naira and ended multiple naira exchange rates to the dollar.
Onanuga said those decisions initially led to inflation and hardship, but he said conditions later improved.
He also credited Sule with supporting the reforms when they were introduced.
“So, what the President did was to free up resources that the state governors have been longing for to develop their states,” Onanuga said.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Public Enlightenment, AbulAziz AbdulAziz, also spoke at the Makurdi bypass inspection.
He said the amount of infrastructure work seen in Benue and Nasarawa states showed that the Renewed Hope Agenda was working.
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