Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule, says President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s economic reforms have increased the state’s monthly allocation from the Federation Account from about ₦4.5 billion to ₦16 billion.
Sule stated this in Lafia on Saturday when he received the Renewed Hope Ambassadors National Media Tour, led by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.
He said the increase in revenue had created more fiscal space for the state to execute major projects and address the needs of residents.
“For us in Nasarawa State, we are very transparent. I came from the private sector, so every contract I give, I announce the amount that we are spending on that contract, so that people can now see the difference with the kind of money we are receiving,” Sule said.
The governor recalled that before the reforms, Nasarawa received between ₦3.8 billion and ₦4.5 billion monthly from the Federation Account.
“I can tell you for free, you are right when you say that the first four years of my administration, everybody knows Nigeria was sharing anything between maybe ₦590 billion to about ₦620 billion monthly,” he said.
Sule said the removal of fuel subsidy and other reforms initially caused difficulties but insisted that Tinubu demonstrated political courage by taking responsibility for the decisions.
He said the President “took the bullet” on behalf of state and local governments by implementing reforms that increased the resources available to the three tiers of government.
“Today, we are beginning to see the benefits because the resources available to us have increased tremendously,” the governor said.
According to him, the additional resources have enabled Nasarawa to embark on major projects covering roads, education, healthcare, water supply and industrialisation.
He also stressed the need for effective communication of government policies, saying citizens needed to understand the reasons behind reforms that might initially appear difficult.
Onanuga, who led the media team, commended Tinubu for taking decisions that previous administrations had acknowledged as necessary but repeatedly postponed.
“Actually, when President Tinubu came in 2023, he initiated some audacious reforms that ought to have been introduced some decades ago,” Onanuga said.
He said the President started with the removal of fuel subsidy, followed by the floating of the naira and the end of multiple exchange rates.
“That immediately created inflation, people complaining of hardship and all kinds of things. The first year was very difficult. But later, things got better,” he said.
Onanuga also commended Sule for supporting the reforms at the time, saying, “what the President has done is something that should be commended and that the President actually took the bullet for the sub-nationals.”
“So, what the President did was to free up resources that the state governors have been longing for to develop their states,” he added.
The Renewed Hope Ambassadors National Media Team, comprising presidential media aides and more than 50 senior journalists, inspected several projects across Nasarawa State.
The projects included the state secretariat, a one-megawatt solar farm, the 16-kilometre Makurdi bypass, the Wing Commander Abdullahi Ibrahim Vocational and Skills Acquisition Centre, Shinge Waterstorm Channel and Kilema Bridge along the Lafia-Doma Road.
Speaking at the Makurdi bypass, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Public Enlightenment, AbulAziz AbdulAziz, said the scale of infrastructure development in Nasarawa and Benue states was evidence that the Renewed Hope Agenda was working.