N60BN: Governors Forum tackles Obaseki

Edo Gov Godwin Obaseki has stirred a war of me against them I Nigeria Governors Forum as he alone appeared to have the detail of the N60bn he claims the federal government printed to support the March Federation Account Allocation.

After Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed denied it, and CBN Gov. Godwin Emefiele confirmed it indirectly, Obaseki alone waxed stronger in its confrontation and criticism of the federal government financial rascality—until the Progressive Governors Forum pushed back.

The governors, in a statement in the name of the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF), said Obaseki’s statement “does not reflect the true position of things.”

They admitted that there was a shortfall in gross statutory revenues by N43.34 billion compared to the previous month.

“An augmentation was made in the sum of N8.65 billion from the Forex Equalization Fund Account, which brought the total distributable revenue to N605.59 billion,” the forum said.

“Federation revenues distributed monthly primarily consist of mineral revenues from the sale of oil and gas, as well as non-mineral revenues from customs and excise duties, company income tax and value added tax.

“Yes, there are periods when the country experiences significant fiscal shocks in federation revenues. However, these shocks are offset by other savings serviced from the federation account, including distributions from the domestic excess crude proceeds and the foreign excess crude savings account.

“These payments started since 2008 when the country first experienced fiscal shocks from the fallouts of the global financial crisis of 2008-2009.

“As a trained Economist who has been a governor since 2016, Mr Obaseki is aware of all the support states have received from President Buhari in coping with the shocks that have resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic recession.

“Not only have we received budget support, bail out support to meet salary obligations and infrastructure refunds to all states, this was implemented in the overall public interest without discrimination on the basis of party affiliation.

“This is why it’s unfortunate and disingenuous to allege preferential treatment of APC states when PDP governed states are even greater beneficiaries of all the support.

“Besides, there’s nothing exceptional in this current review of economic orthodoxy.”