“Stem the obvious fiscal slide, rather than play the Ostrich” – Edo Governor Obaseki @GovernorObaseki slams Finance minister, @ZShamsuna

Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki has called on the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed to rally Nigerians to stem the obvious fiscal slide facing the country.

Governor Obaseki in a statement issued Thursday and made available to NewsWireNGR, noted that it is the collective duty of the citizens to offer useful advice for the benefit of Nigeria.

The statement reads in parts, “Rather than play the Ostrich, we urge the government to take urgent steps to end the current monetary rascality, so as to prevent the prevailing economic challenge from degenerating further.”

He noted that rather than play the Ostrich, urgent steps should be taken to end the current monetary rascality, so as to prevent the prevailing economic challenge from degenerating further.

“The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, @ZShamsuna should rally Nigerians to stem the obvious fiscal slide facing our country” he wrote.

Obaseki says it is imperative to approach the Nigerian project with all sense of responsibility and commitment and not play to the gallery because ultimately, time shall be the judge of everyone.

The Federal Government had described as untrue and sad, comments by the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, where he alleged that N60 billion was printed in March to support federal allocation to states.

It also said despite Obaseki’s worry about the rising debt profile of the country, saying Nigeria is in ‘huge financial trouble’, is also not true as the country’s debt is still within sustainable limits.

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, said this on Wednesday while responding to a question by state house correspondents on Gov. Obaseki’s statement at the end of the weekly Federal Executive council, chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

Ahmed said: “The issue that was raised by the Edo State Governor for me is very, very sad. Because it is not a fact. What we distribute at FAAC is revenue that is generated and in fact distribution revenue is a piece of public information.

The Edo Governor was quoted as saying at the Edo transition committee stakeholders engagement last week Saturday that, “When we got FAAC for March, the federal government printed additional N50-N60 billion to top-up for us to share”.