The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said the bailout fund ordered by President Muhammadu Buhari which would be distributed among all the three tiers of government was saved by the immediate past administration of Goodluck Jonathan.
The opposition party therefore wondered why President Buhari would claim he met a “virtually empty treasury” from the immediate past administration but shared funds he met on ground by the same government.
Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris had told journalists in Abuja on Monday that $1.7billion from the Excess Crude Account was left in the treasury by the outgone Jonathan administration.
States have sought bailout from the Federal Government in their bids to settle several months outstanding salaries, in addition to other needs.
In a statement on Tuesday, PDP national publicity secretary, Olisa Metuh, noted that although the sum would go a long way in alleviating the sufferings of the Nigerian workers, it charged the APC to put its house in order and face the enormous challenges of governance.
Specifically, it tasked the ruling party to focus on what it called, “long list of campaign promises to Nigerians” and stop giving excuses.
“The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) notes the release of over N804
billion from the nation’s coffers as bailout to states and local
governments across the country.
“This development is in clear contradiction to the earlier impression given by President Buhari to Nigerians and the international community that they should not expect much from his administration in its first 100 days because according him, upon assumption of office, he met a virtually empty treasury.
“We want to believe that given the President’s release of such huge
amount, he may have realized that he was earlier misdirected on the actual financial state of the nation at the time he took over. In this regard, we expect the President, as a respected statesman to do the needful to correct that erroneous impression.
“Furthermore, we expect President Buhari’s APC administration as direct
beneficiary of this savings initiated by past PDP administrations to appreciate the strategic importance of always saving for rainy days and as such guarantee prudent and transparent management of the nation’s resources now under its care,” the statement read.
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