Payment of April salary to civil
servants may be delayed as the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC)
has for the second month in a row rejected the revenue figures presented by the
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
In March, the FAAC meeting had
ended in a deadlock because of a shortfall of N37.7 billion in NNPC remittances
until Kemi Adeosun, minister of finance, intervened.
Yunusa Mahmoud, chairman, Finance
Commissioners Forum, who confirmed the postponement on Wednesday, said the
situation had resulted in a meeting of governors and top officials of the NNPC.
“We have some challenges, the
figures we have gotten is far below what we expected to be remitted by NNPC. As
it is now, there is a meeting between the governors and the top management of
NNPC at the state house,” he told journalists.
“I believe this is a very
high-level deliberation and something good will come out of it. Before now, you
did not hear such news, but because this government is a government of change,
some level of transparency is expected.
“When you pick your figures and
you submit your figures, the person that is supposed to look at it and
deliberate on it will ask questions if need be.”
However, Mahmoud did not describe
the situation as insincerity on the part of the NNPC, saying it could be an
error.
“I don’t want to use the word
insincerity. What happened could be an error. If one party is wrong, the other
party is right; if you add it together at the end of the day you make
progress,” he said.
“The last FAAC meeting was
postponed twice and at the end of the day, we made progress. In the spirit of
Easter, we held a meeting, because we were looking at the plight of the workers
that were supposed to receive their salaries as and when due, but based on the
submission we have now, some states will not pay salaries now.”
While addressing journalists in
Washington DC on Sunday, Adeosun had said the government will demand a high
level of transparency from state-owned enterprises like the NNPC because the
country cannot afford to lose money.
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