As part of efforts by the federal government to save states from their financial crises, the Debt Management Office (DMO) has restructured the N575.516 billion bank loans owed by 23 states into Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) Bonds.
The Director General of DMO, Dr. Abraham Nwankwo, who disclosed this in Lagos on Tuesday, said the move was part of the short term stabilisation package approved by President Muhammadu Buhari to bail out states who had been unable to meet their financial obligations.
Nwankwo, who spoke at the quarterly forum of the Association of Issuing Houses of Nigeria (AIHN), said President Buhari had in early July approved the sharing of the special revenue of N2.1 billion among governments, lending of between N250 billion and N300 billion by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to the states on long term, single digit interest terms.
Also, the president approved the implementation by DMO to restructure state loans from banks into FGN bonds.