Minister of Finance, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, on Thursday disclosed that the Federal Government was owing states a balance of N649.434 billion from excess deductions from Paris Club debt refund.

At a press conference in Abuja, she also said the senior government officials were doing a final review of the N8.9 trillion Appropriation Bill passed by the National Assembly and their recommendations would be submitted to President Muhammadu Buhari by the end of this week.

So far, the government has recovered a total of N605 billion through the Whistleblower Policy launched in the early part of the current administration.

In addition, another committee was working out full financial implications of new minimum wage of N30,000 will soon submit its report including payment of N30,000 monthly allowance to members of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

On whistleblowers, Ahmed explained that the policy subsists “and it is still being implemented. The total amount of collection that has been made through various efforts is about N605 billion.

“This is an improvement over the last amount that was reported,” she said. (Nigerian Tribune)