Buhari okays release of 2nd London-Paris refund to governors

President Muhammadu Buhari has sanctioned payment of a second release of London-Paris refunds to governors to enable them settle unpaid salaries and pension liabilities of their workers as well as ease other financial hardship.

The President on Thursday directed the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun and the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, to act appropriately and with dispatch in releasing the second tranche of the London-Paris Club refunds to the states.

The President who addressed the meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC) made up of state governors and chaired by the Vice-President on Thursday in Abuja, however, emphasised on settlement of unpaid salaries and pension liabilities of their workers.

This development was disclosed in a statement released Thursday by the Senior Special Assistant to President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu.

“I will not rest until I address those issues that affect our people. One of these basic things is the issue of salaries. It is most important that workers are able to feed their families, pay rent and school fees, then other things can follow,” Buhari said.

President Buhari, who went round the Council Chambers to greet the governors one after another, praised the unity of the Forum of State Governors. He thanked them profusely for their display of “love and respect” to him.

Read also: Opinion- MAGU: Buhari don fall our hand, hoohaa!

He further said he was overwhelmed by his recent experience in which states, irrespective of political differences charged their citizens to pray in mosques and churches for his well-being and apologised to the governors for barring them from visits to him while he rested in London.

“I didn’t want government to move to London. I wanted it to remain here and I am glad it did,” he said.
After sharing the experience he went through while on that vacation, Buhari noted the suggestion by the governors for him to add more rest, but insisted that he would remain relentless in the pursuit of the interest of the Nigerian people at all times.

This, according to him, was the only way to show his gratitude to the people who, he said, “had given so much to me. I was overwhelmed by the celebration of my return all across the country.”

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