‘It Is Not True’ Federal Government denies Obaseki’s allegation of printing N60Billion

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.

“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.” Obaseki had said.

Reacting, Ahmed said “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.”