The controversy trailing the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) for the last couple of months does not seem to have an end in sight as another scheduled meeting has ended in deadlock.
The allocation issue was one of the major issues up for discussion at the recent meeting of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) held on Wednesday night in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
While briefing reporters after the meeting, Chairman of the Forum and Zamfara State Governor, Abdul’Aziz Yari, insisted that the remittances from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) were inaccurate.
He informed reporters that the governors resolved that until the NNPC corrects the discrepancies in the amount remitted to the Federation Account, the states would not share the money.
“We have seen irregularities in numbers and discrepancies in numbers, saying that ‘you are taking subsidy – a subsidy of N88billion’; but you clearly stated that N31billion is for the month of June and N57billion is for payment of 2007 or 2017 subsidy, which is not acceptable,” the Zamfara State Governor said while querying the amount that the NNPC claimed to have used for the payment of petroleum subsidies.
He further reiterated that the NNPC could not deduct funds from the Federation Account at its discretion without the approval of the President or the National Executive Council (NEC). He noted that such was not the case in this instance and even if it was, the governors had a right to disagree or agree with such approval.
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The Governor’s forum described the amount remitted by NNPC as a far cry from expected revenue, noting that the said amount does not reflect the current economic realities and prices of oil in the international market at the moment.
Governors in attendance include Mohammed Abubakar (Bauchi), Godwin Obaseki (Edo), Abubakar Bagudu (Kebbi), Aminu Masari (Katsina), and Willie Obiano (Anambra), among others.
The Federal Allocation issue is in its second month with no visible end in sight, this has had a visible effect on the resources of various state governments already.