Federal Government has on Wednesday denied Governor of Edo state, Godwin Obaseki’s claim that N60 billion was printed in March to support federal allocation to states.
Zainab Ahmed, minister of finance, budget and national planning, reacted while answering questions from state house correspondents, on Wednesday.
It would be recalled that the Governor made the claim at a meeting in the state, saying the money was printed between to augment what the three tiers of government shared in March.
Read Also: FG Printed N60bn To Share In March, Says Obaseki
He stated;
When we got FAAC (Federal Allocation) for March, the federal government printed additional N50-N60 billion to top-up for us to share.
This April, we will go to Abuja and share. By the end of this year, our total borrowings is going to be within N15-N16 trillion. Imagine a family that is just borrowing without any means to pay back and nobody is looking at that, everybody is looking at 2023, everybody is blaming Mr. President as if he is a magician.
Reacting, Ahmed expressed;
The issue that was raised by Edo State Governor for me is very, very sad. Because it is not a fact. What we distribute at FAAC is a revenue that is generated and in fact distribution revenue is a 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.
She added;
On the issue of the borrowing, the Nigerian debt is still within sustainable limit. What we need to do as I have said several times is to improve our revenue to enhance our capacity to service not only our debt but to service the needs of running the government on day to day basis.
So our debt currently at about 23% to GDP is at a very sustainable level. If you look at all the reports that you see from multilateral institutions.
ore details to come.
