Governors of the 36 states are
insisting that the deadlock at the Federation Accounts and Allocation Committee
(FAAC) meetings would continue until the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC) remit what is due to government coffers.
The NNPC had remitted N147
billion into the federation account in May but the governors faulted that
amount, saying it did not reflect the current economic realities and prices of
oil in the international market.
The governors also queried the
amount that the NNPC said it paid for petroleum subsidies.
The governors, who held a meeting
in Abuja on Wednesday night, said their final decision on the issues would be
presented at Thursday’s national economic council (NEC) presided over by
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo.
The allocations of May and June
are yet to be distributed among the three tiers of government following the
rejection of the NNPC remittances.
When FAAC meeting held on June
27, representatives of the 36 states rejected the NNPC remittance for that
month.
When the meeting reconvened last
week, the state commissioners for finance insisted that a permanent solution
must be explored to resolve the recurring issue around NNPC remittances to the
federation account.
Briefing journalists on the
outcome of Wednesday’s meeting, Abdulaziz Yari, chairman of the Nigerian
Governors’ Forum and Zamfara state governor, said the governors still disagreed
with the figures presented by the oil corporation.
“There is a disagreement between
the figures presented. I have been on the saddle for seven years and I have
been attending NEC for past four months and if I see discrepancies, I should be
able to tell,” he said.
According to Yari, the agreement
NNPC claims to have with state governors to remit a maximum of ₦112 billion per
month was done when oil price was $48 barrel per day but now the price $78.
“NNPC said it paid N88 billion
for subsidy and in the month of June, it said it paid N31 billion but it
claimed N57 billion is for payment of subsidy in 2017. That is not acceptable
and we won’t give the approval. You can’t just deep your hand into the public
purse and take the money, you have to seek approval from the NEC or Mr.
President.
“And NNPC said they have N15
billion for miscellaneous, N9 billion for pipeline maintenance, N3 billion for
crude loss, all those things were not approved by anyone.
“NNPC is owned by the federal,
states and local government. The states get 48 per cent while the local
government and federal government get 52 percent. We have to agree whatever we
get the federal government is getting 52 percent. We are saying this money
should be brought to the public for sharing.”
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