President Muhammadu Buhari is seeking the approval of the National Assembly for payment of N544 billion judgment debts.
The breakdown of the judgement debts owed by the Federal Government include $566.7 million, £98.5m and N226.2 billion.
When converted to naira using the official dollar rate of N460.78 and N574.3 for pounds, the debts translate to N544 billion.
This request is coming five days before the end of the Buhari administration.
In a letter addressed to the Senate President Ahmad Lawan; and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, Buhari said the government would make the payment through the issuance of promissory notes.
The senate president read out the Buhari’s letter to lawmakers at the plenary on Wednesday.
The letter read in part: “The distinguished Senate President may wish to be informed that the Federal Executive Council, at its meeting of March 29, 2023, approved the liquidations of top priority judgment debts and general judgment debts owed by ministries, departments and agencies through the issuance of promissory notes.
“The judgment debts are to be settled through the issuance of promissory notes, which will then be redeemed over time through provisions in the budgets of the Federal Government of Nigeria. Thus, debt securities have been issued for the settlement of the judgment debts and approval of the National Assembly is required for this purpose.
In view of the foregoing, I wish to request the Senate to kindly consider and approve through its resolution the settlement of the top priority judgement debts and general judgment debts incurred by Federal MDAs in the sum of USD566,754,584.31, £98,526,012.00 and N226,281,801,881.64 through the issuance of promissory notes.
“The Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice; and the Honourable Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning shall provide any information that may be required by the Senate for the consideration of this request.”
