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The Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF), Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State, said on Thursday that governors are seeking to access $3.25 billion in World Bank financing to ease the fiscal crisis currently facing most states in the federation.

Speaking to reporters after an NGF meeting held at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, Governor Yari said the governors invited Rachid Benmessaoud, the World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, who briefed them on available World Bank financing for cash-trapped state governments.

The NGF chairman said most governors had been unaware of the World Bank financing because of the cumbersome process required to access the funds, particularly the issue of counterpart funding.

“We discussed sincerely on the issue of counterpart funding,” Governor Yari said. “It is more difficult for us to fulfill our own part because we are struggling to see how we can pay salaries; that is the most difficult aspect of it. And they [World bank officials] promised that they will look into it and immediately that is done, the states will move fast to ensure we access it.”

The Zamfara State Governor said World Bank officials also agreed to provide a detailed breakdown on the Bank’s financing state-by-state and how such monies could be accessed.

“As of now they are ready to facilitate a kind of workshop to the state governors and the commissioners of finance and other staff, so that we can know how best to move and access these funds for the betterment of our respective states,” Yari said.

Also speaking to reporters, Nasir El-Rufai, the Governor of Kaduna State, said the World Bank portfolio for the states in 2016 is $4.25 billion, out of which, $3.25 billion remains undisbursed.

“You know $3.25 billion can do a lot to improve the lives and livelihood of our citizens in the state and the World Bank has expressed its flexibility to look into the challenges we are facing as well as the procedure or bottleneck to ease the access of these monies,” El-Rufai said.

The Kaduna State Governor said the World Bank is eager for states to access its financing speedily so that their citizens can receive benefits in areas such as health, education, rural access, agriculture, and the revival of livestock and water supply.

“These are the areas that most of these funds are dedicated and we all need the money because we are all broke. So, we are going to work very hard to try to get these monies in trust,” El-Rufai said.