Niger State Government says the present administration under Mohammed Umaru Bago has so far saved N10 billion.
The Head of Service, Alh. Abubakar Salihu disclosed this during the post-State Executive Council press briefing which held at the Government House, Minna.
The last council meeting was said to have recounted some of the achievements made in the last 100 days and the need to inform the general public.
Alh. Salihu said the present administration has demonstrated financial discipline which he said led to the saving of N10 billion.
The Head of Service said the administration has also paid counterpart funds to all Development Partners in the state.
Alhaji Salihu further explained that the present government has cleared the N600 million backlog of the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) for all government parastatals accrued in the last administration.
He explained that the total debt was N1.3 billion and that N500 million was paid by the last government adding that plans are underway to remove government establishments that are energy demanding off AEDC.
Also, the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Mu’azu Hamidu Jantabo, disclosed that the Local government areas have hitherto required an overdraft of N3.9 billion to pay salaries to local government workers but due to the political will of the present government and its focus on having a sustainable fiscal future for the state, it has been reduced to N2 billion and would be out of it by December, this year.
He further said the present administration has also been able to pay part of the local government salary backlog for the year 2020.
Similarly, Commissioner for Communication and Digital Economy, Suleiman Isah said the state government is partnering with Google Developers Group to host 1,000 indigenous developers in November, adding that the council has agreed to domesticate ICT projects in the state.
He said the state government has proposed electronic document management for the State Executive Council (SEC)Meetings which he said will be achieved before December thereby making SEC meetings to be paperless going forward.
The Commissioner for Information Strategy, Hajiya Binta Mamman who Chaired the briefing maintained that the present administration has recorded some remarkable achievements in its first 100 days in Office and acknowledged that more work would be done to ensure the desired result is achieved.
Bologi Ibrahim
Chief Press Secretary
to the Governor of Niger State
14/9/2023.
