*As Buhari meets APC governors
Tobi Soniyi in Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday at the State House in Abuja met with governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) after which
Chairman of APC Governors Forum and Imo State governor, Rochas Okorocha, said that financial fortunes of states had improved tremendously.
Okorocha, who led other APC governors to the meeting with the president Muhammadu Buhari, also said the governors were worried about the crises in the National Assembly.
Asked about the state of the economy in the states now, Okorocha said “There is a lot of improvement. You will recall that when oil was above $100, what the states are getting now is close to what they used to get when oil price was above $100.
“This means this government is doing a lot, we are not yet there but we are getting there. We appeal to Nigerians to be patient with this government because it means well about the welfare of our people.”
The states have been in bad financial shape receiving meager allocations from the federation accounts in the last one year.
The parlous financial situation of the states left about 28 of them unable to pay their staff salaries with some of the governors applied for bail-outs from the Federal Government.
Last week, the Minister for Budget and National Planning, Senator Udo Udoma, hinted that things had started to look up financially as the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) had improved on revenue collections making more money available for the governors to share.
The revenues shared to the governors in July from the Federal Allocation Accounts Committee (FAAC) was an improvement over what they got in previous months.
Asked what the governors discussed with the president, Okorocha said: “We have come to reassure Mr. President that the APC governors are solidly behind him. His fight against corruption, his fight against insurgents and all his laudable projects.
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