By Sabiu Abdullahi
Nasarawa State now receives between N14 billion and N16 billion monthly from federal allocations, compared with about N3.8 billion to N4.5 billion before the removal of the petrol subsidy, Governor Abdullahi Sule has said.
Sule made the disclosure on Saturday in Lafia, the state capital, when he received journalists and members of the presidential media team who were in the state to inspect federal and state government projects.
The governor attributed the increase in revenue available to the state to economic reforms introduced by President Bola Tinubu.
He said the reforms had created more fiscal space for state governments to implement projects without depending heavily on loans.
Sule said Tinubu “took bullets” for state governors after the removal of the petrol subsidy, which he said resulted in higher allocations to the states.
According to the governor, Nasarawa previously received between N3.8 billion and N4.5 billion monthly, while the state’s local governments received between N1.9 billion and N2.5 billion.
He said the state’s monthly allocation has since increased by more than twice its previous level.
“All the projects we are doing in Nasarawa state today, without borrowing from the bank, are as a result of president Bola and his support,” he said.
“So, you must give him the credit for that. Without the reforms, we would not have had the resources to do what we are doing. So, I can’t take credit for those projects.
“The office of the SSG is better than my own office. And there is nothing wrong with that because at the time they built my own office, Tinubu was not there. We didn’t have the resources that we have today. So, there is nothing wrong with me doing it better today because we are receiving the resources better today.
“I came from the private sector, so for every contract, I give the amount that we are spending on that contract so that people can make a difference with the kind of money we are receiving. I can tell you for free.
“You are right when you say that president Tinubu took the bullet on our behalf. In my first four years, everybody knows the federal government was sharing between maybe N590 billion to about N620 billion a month as the total FAAC allocation.
“For Nasarawa state, what we were getting was between maybe N3.8 billion and about N4.5 billion for the state. For the local government, it was between N1.9 billion and N2.5 billion every month.
“With the removal of the fuel subsidy, I can tell you for free that Nasarawa state today is receiving an average of N14 to N16 billion a month. But you have to go back and find out [about] our expenses. That is why Onanuga said president Tinubu took the bullet on our behalf.
“That is why they accused me of being very straightforward in criticising anything not right, arguing that I am no longer a straightforward person now that I am commending the government. So, anytime I tell the truth about the good thing happening, I am no longer a good person.”
Sule said his administration had undertaken several projects without obtaining bank loans. He maintained that the increased revenue had made it possible for the state to finance more development projects.
Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, also said state governments were benefiting from the removal of the petrol subsidy through the implementation of major projects across the country.
