The Minister of Finance and Budget Planning, Mrs Ahmed Zainab, has denied claims made by the Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, that the government printed an additional N60 billion that was shared at the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC).
While addressing State House correspondents at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting on Wednesday, Zainab expressed displeasure at the allegations, describing the statement credited to Obaseki as false.
Obaseki had last week at the State Transition Committee Stakeholders Engagement was quoted as saying that the country was in huge financial trouble.
The governor reportedly said that the Federal Government printed between N50 billion and N60 billion to share in March as part of FAAC.
However, the minister explained that what was distributed at the monthly FAAC meetings were generated revenue from government institutions available to the public.
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According to her, “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 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.
“On the issue of the borrowing, the Nigerian debt is still within sustainable limit. What we need to do as I have said several times is to improve our revenue to enhance our capacity to service not only our debt but to service the needs of running the government on day to day basis.
“So our debt currently at about 23 per cent to GDP is at a very sustainable level. If you look at all the reports that you see from multilateral institutions.”
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