Governors of the ruling All Progressives Congress and their counterparts in the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party on Sunday locked horns over a claim by the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki that the Federal Government printed about N60 billion to augment the shortfall in the allocation of revenues to the three tiers of government in March 2021.
While the APC governors tackled Obaseki over the claim on printing N60bn, their PDP counterparts said the ruling party’s chieftains should stop crucifying the Edo governor for warning the Federal Government about its reckless spending.
Last week, Governor Obaseki had claimed that the Federal Government printed N60 billion to augment the monthly allocation for the month of March.
But Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, had denied Obaseki’s claim.
Obaseki’s counterparts in the APC lambasted the Edo governor, saying as a trained economist, he ought to have known better.
Speaking at the Edo state transition committee stakeholders engagement, recently Obaseki of the PDP had said, “When we got FAAC for March, the Federal Government printed additional N50-N60 billion to top-up for us to share.”
But in a reaction, Kebbi State Governor and Chairman of the Progressives Governors Forum, Atiku Bagudu, said the Edo governor’s claim was not a reflection of the true position of things.
The APC governors’ statement read, “Given the significance of the statement from a sitting governor and the possible negative impact it has brought to the credibility of both the federal and state governments in managing government finances, the Forum is obliged to put a statement out.
“To set the records clear and to the best of our knowledge, the total distributable statutory revenue for the month of March 2021 was N596.94 billion.
“Due to the 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.
“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.
“The Progressive Governors admits that there are periods when the country experiences significant fiscal shocks in federation revenues, but says the 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.”
But in their own reaction to the APC governors’ statement, the PDP state chief executives urged their counterparts in the ruling party not to further
crucify Obaseki for raising the alarm about government spending.
The PDP governors said it is unhelpful for their APC counterparts in the Progressive Governors’ Forum to attack Obaseki for merely warning the monetary authorities about the danger of uncontrolled ways of supporting government expenditure.
In a statement by the Director General of the PDP Governors Forum, Cyril Maduabum, on Sunday, the opposition party governors advised the Federal Government to plug financial leakages in the system and curb wasteful expenditure.
According to the statement, “The PDP Governors Forum is alarmed at the partisan slant a patriotic advice to the Federal Government by His Excellency, Governor Godwin Obaseki , on its monetary policies has assumed.
“It is unhelpful for the Progressive Governors Forum to join the fray in the manner it did by its recent statement attacking Governor Obaseki who merely warned the monetary authorities about the danger of uncontrolled use of Ways and Means, that is, the printing of Naira, to support government’s expenditure.
“Governor Obaseki has a background in economics and finance and is a very responsible governor who talks in a measured way.
”His advice, which by the way has been corroborated by none other than the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, himself, and the international ratings agency FITCH , should be heeded rather than being crucified for sounding a note of caution.
“No doubt, the Federal Government has been supporting the states in the area of agriculture, budget, refund of Federal Government executed projects by states and a few other areas of intervention.
“Is CBN trying to be vindictive and vengeful by recalling its loans to the states because of an informed advice by a governor? It is unfortunate that governance has plummeted to this level.
“The Federal Government should plug financial leakages in the system and curb wasteful expenditure of billions of naira on projects that can be executed by the private sector and save a lot of money in the process, thereby relying less on ways and means by the CBN , which brings pressure on the Naira with its inflationary consequences. Inflation in Nigeria is currently at 18.2 per cent , the highest in recent years. We should all be concerned to find ways of steming the tide.
“We are all involved in the urgent task of rescuing the economy of Nigeria and nobody should indeed play the ostrich.”