BEVERLY HILLS, April 15, (THEWILL) – Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obasek,i has faulted the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, for denying that the Federal Government printed N60 billion in March to support allocation to states.
The Governor, who accused the Federal Government of “monetary rascality’, also tackled the Finance Minister for “playing the Ostrich”.
Governor Obaseki stated these on a series of tweets to react to the denial by Zainab that his claim on FG’s printing of N60bn was “untrue”.
Obaseki said: “While we do not want to join issues with the Federal Ministry of Finance, we believe it is our duty to offer useful advice for the benefit of our country.
“The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, should rally Nigerians to stem the obvious fiscal slide facing our country.
“Rather than play the Ostrich, we urge the government to take urgent steps to end the current monetary rascality, so as to prevent the prevailing economic challenge from degenerating further.
“We believe it is imperative to approach the Nigerian project with all sense of responsibility and commitment and not play to the gallery because ultimately, time shall be the judge of us all.”
THEWILL reported that the Edo Governor had raised the alarm over Nigeria’s financial position which he said made the CBN print about N60 billion to augment allocation shared by states in March.
But while answering questions from State House correspondents on Wednesday, Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, said Obaseki’s claim was not factual.
She said: “The issue that was raised by the Edo State Governor, for me, is very sad because it is not a fact.
“What we distribute at FAAC is revenue that is generated and in fact, distribution revenue is a piece of public information.
“We publish revenue generated by FIRS, the Customs, and the NNPC and we distribute at FAAC.
“So, it is not true to say we printed money to distribute at FAAC. It is not true.”
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