Governor Abdullahi Sule has revealed that Nasarawa State’s monthly allocation from the Federation Account has increased to between ₦14 billion and ₦16 billion, compared with the pre-2023 average of ₦3.8 billion to ₦4.5 billion, attributing the rise to President Bola Tinubu’s fuel subsidy removal and foreign exchange policy reforms.
Sule made this known on Saturday while receiving members of the Renewed Hope Ambassadors Presidential Media Team, headed by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, at the Government House in Lafia.
The delegation is undertaking an inspection tour of federal and state government projects across the North-Central geopolitical zone.
The governor explained that the reforms released funds that had previously been absorbed by petrol and foreign exchange subsidies, enabling the state to undertake major infrastructure and human capital development projects without obtaining bank loans.
“I can tell you for free, Nasarawa State is receiving an average of 14 to 16 billion every month,” Sule said, contrasting this with the ₦3.8 billion to ₦4.5 billion the state received monthly before the reforms began.
He outlined several projects financed with the increased revenue, including the Mararaba dual flyover valued at ₦16.7 billion, the Akwanga township dualisation worth ₦7.1 billion, an underpass in Akwanga costing ₦6.6 billion, the Shendam Road dualisation at ₦5.6 billion, a stormwater drainage channel at Amba bridge for ₦3.3 billion, and the Keffi flyover project estimated at ₦11.4 billion.
“If you calculate so far, you will see that we spend about ₦90 billion. Now, Nasarawa State, no way in the past years could think of spending this amount of money,” he said, recalling that in 2019 the state struggled for months to secure a ₦5 billion bond for a market project.
Governor Sule insisted that the federal government’s reforms deserved recognition for the projects, stressing that all the developments were being carried out without borrowing.
“All the projects we are doing in Nasarawa State today, with no borrowing from the bank, are as a result of President Bola Tinubu’s support. So you must give him the credit for that,” he said.
The governor also pointed to investments in technical education, healthcare facilities and agriculture, including a skill acquisition centre providing training in 12 different trades, a specialist hospital being constructed in Akwanga, and a 10,000-hectare rice farm within the state.
Leader of the Renewed Hope Media Team, Onanuga, said the visit was intended to confirm that funds made available through federal reforms were being utilised for the purposes for which they were released, adding that Nasarawa had emerged as an industrial centre under Sule’s leadership.
Earlier, the Secretary to the Government of Nasarawa State, Labaran Magaji, SAN, received the delegation and described the visit as evidence of the close collaboration between the state and federal governments.
