Kwara and Zamfara States are the first to get the nod of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s request by commercial banks to start providing bailout funds to states that had requested for the funds in order to enable them pay the backlog of salaries owed workers.

The fund was sequel to the decision by the National Economic Council (NEC) at its meeting of June 29, 2015, that had requested that the CBN in collaboration with other stakeholders should appraise and consider ways of liquidating the outstanding workers’ salaries owed by state and local governments.

A statement from the CBN yesterday explained that the conditions for accessing the facility included resolutions of the State Executive Council authorising the borrowing and state House of Assembly consenting to the loan package, as well as issuance of Irrevocable Standing Payment Order (ISPO) to ensure timely repayment.

The statement disclosed that out of the 27 states that had applied for the funds, only two have received the fund because they met the requirements as agreed with their respective banks. The two states are Zamfara and Kwara.

“Efforts will be made in the coming days to conclude disbursements to other states so that all outstanding salaries to civil servants can be cleared,” it added.

As part of his resolve to end the lingering crisis of unpaid workers’ salaries in the country, especially in several states of the federation, President Muhammadu Buhari had approved a comprehensive relief package designed to salvage the situation. Part of the relief package was a CBN packaged N300 billion special intervention fund to be offered to states which would be in the form of soft loans available to states to access for the purposes of solely paying the backlog of salaries.

Source: http://monitor9ja.com/2015/08/kwara-zamfara-get-cbn-bailout-funds/