A proposal for 19 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to get N2billion each as ecological fund will be decided upon at next month’s National Economic Council (NEC) meeting.
NEC is the official economic platform for dialogue among the 36 governors, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor and other members.
Kaduna State Governor Nasir El Rufai told reporters at the end of yesterday’s NEC meeting chaired by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo that the fund disbursement is part of recommendations of his committee’s interim report submitted to the.
He said the recommendation would ensure fairness to states that were not given anything when former President Goodluck Jonathan shared N2 billion each to People’s Democratic Party (PDP)-controlled states from the ecological fund.
According to him, his 11-man committee would submit the final report during the NEC meeting in June.
He said: “The committee established beyond all doubts that in 2013, the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan gave N2 billion to certain states of the federation but excluded other states.
“The states that got it were all PDP states and states of other parties that were sympathetic to the PDP like Labour Party in Ondo and APGA in Anambra State. Nineteen states and the FCT did not get the N2 billion from the Ecological Fund.
“These states are Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Borno, Edo, Ekiti, Imo, Jigawa, Kano, Kwara and Lagos.
“Others are Nassarawa, Niger, Ogun, Osun, Oyo, Rivers, Sokoto, Yobe, Zamfara and the Federal Capital Territory
“So essentially, what President Goodluck Jonathan did was to take N2 billion each from the Ecological fund and give to some PDP states. Any PDP state that was not his friend like Kano and Kwara didn’t get. And all the other opposition parties, like Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) got anything.”
According to him, there is a Presidential directive that the Ecological Fund office must maintain a balance of N20 billion of the present N33.6 billion in the fund.
This, he said, is to cater for any emergency or any natural disaster requiring intervention.
From the total money in the fund, he said the balance of about N13 billion will be available for distribution to the states that were discriminated against.
Bauchi Governor Mohammed Abubakar said the council received the report of an ad-hoc committee to study the report of the Presidential Technical Committee on the Land Use Act regulations.
Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha added that the council also reviewed many issues concerning money.
Okorocha said members of the council were impressed by the way Osinbajo was handling the affairs of the country.
He said: “We were made to understand from the office of the Accountant General that the excess crude account as at May 24th stands at $2.3 billion. Council also reviewed the discrepancies in figures and we have said that the Accountant General will go and look at it and at the next meeting, he will brief the council appropriately.
“As regards the loan support, what is called the budget support facility for states, which is supposed to come to an end by the end of this month, council was concerned about the fact that we are gradually coming out of recession and if this budgetary support ceases at the end of May, it might create some lapses in our bid to stabilise the economy. So, council resolved that the budgetarysupport be extended to enable states catch up with the economic challenges of the moment.
“The good news is that we have been reliably informed that crude production at Forcados Terminal will soon commence and this will help the economy and the stabilisation of the economy and for us to get out of recession as quickly as possible.
“But the highlight of the whole discussion today’s was a special commendation that the Council made on the Acting President, who we have all resolved to call a systems stabiliser given the fact that Mr. President is on medical vacation. The system is still as smooth as it has always been. So, we commended the Acting President for a job well done.”
He maintained that the Paris Club refund was not free money, but money owed state governments.
No comments