Exclusive Report - President Buhari accuses National Assembly of inflating debts payable to states; demands review

President Muhammadu Buhari has accused the National Assembly of inflating debts to be repaid by the federal government to deserving states.

He also asked the National Assembly to review the amount it approved as debt repayment to the states.

The debt repayment in promissory notes is for projects executed on behalf of the federal government by various state governments.

A promissory note is a debt instrument which one party promises in writing to pay a determinate sum of money to the other, either at a fixed or determinable future time, under specific terms.

His request was communicated via a letter which was read out by the Senate President, Bukola Saraki on Tuesday.

In the letter, Mr Buhari pointed out that the total amount approved by the National Assembly was higher than the amount approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

He also queried the National Assembly for approving reimbursement to 21 states even after the FEC approved for 25 states.

Part of the statement read: “You may wish to refer to the letter from the National Assembly REF: NASS/CNA/106/Vol.10/277 dated 27th of July 2018 which communicated the approval by the National Assembly of the promissory note programme and a bond issuance to settle inherited local debts and contractual obligations on refund to state governments on projects executed on behalf of the federal government in the sum of N488,743,526,204.77.

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