BEVERLY HILLS, July 11, (THEWILL) – Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State Friday accused former President Goodluck Jonathan of short-changing his state to the tune of N10billion, saying the Jonathan-led Federal Government owed his state an amount of not less than N10 billion.
Oshiomhole, who was at the State House, Abuja to confer with President Muhammadu Buhari, alleged that under Jonathan, the states were short changed as a result of the Federal Government’s refusal to disburse accruals in the Federation Account to the three tiers of government .
He attributed the omissions to lack of transparency and accountability associated in the management of Federation Account by the immediate past administration.
According to Oshiomhole, ” Edo State government had lost N10 billion under President Goodluck Jonathan and under Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. And this is the point we have been making when analysts just talk about states, they do not really probe the specifics and because the federal voice is always louder and people make assumptions that certain people are not likely to do certain things.
“The truth is that so much was not paid to the Federation Account and that explains the huge gap. That was why in some of my statements, I said it is not just question of drop in price but it is also the denial of a lot of revenue that ought to have accrued into the Federation Account. So no state has gotten a dine from what we called bail out or Excess Crude Account.”
He applauded the incumbent administration for adhering to the Constitution in the recent remittance $1.6 Billion remitted by the Nigeria Liquified Natural Gas (NLNG) on the directive of President Buhari, who also ordered that it be shared by the three tiers of government.
Oshiomhole said, “If this money had come under the last president, it will have gone the same way as in previous years. The NLNG is not starting fresh to remit. It has been doing that every year plus taxes paid by, I think Shell, amounting to about $500 million added to the amount of $1.6 billion from NLNG that totaled to the amount of $2.1 billion.
“And that was the money that was shared. That was why the correction was made when a section of the media reported that we have collected money from Excess Crude Account. No money was taken from Excess Crude Account.
” Now imagine if what Edo State got from this renewed transparency and total compliance to the spirit and letter of the constitution in section 80, If what we got last week, courtesy of this renewed commitment to transparency, if we had gotten this these past four years consecutively, we would have made about N10 billion.
”We have always been happy with the president because he has been very clear from day one on his campaign promises to putting an end to impunity, fragrant disobedient of law and order. So it is not just about the bailout but it is completely a new approach that anybody who is a stakeholder in the matters involving the funds of the federation that we all can see through everything.
“For example, all the noise that have been generated over what happened last week, there was nothing extraordinary. What was extraordinary is that the NLNG has over the years been remitting funds to the Federal Government. But the Federal Government illegally refused to transfer these fund to the Consolidated Revenue Fund which belongs to the three tiers of government.
“All that President Buhari has done is to, in line with his commitments to ensuring that all funds and monies accruing to the Federation Account are so remitted, that he has directed the CBN to transfer the funds to the consolidated funds. And our commissioners along with federal officials met last week to share those funds in line with the revenue allocation formula.”
The governor also drummed support for wage increase, saying:” I believe the Nigeria worker is under paid, particularly in the public sector. If you look at the wage trend now, you will find that what a graduate earns is Level 8 Step 2 in the public service; if the same young man is to get a job in an oil company or some section of the public sector, his pay will be much more.
“If a worker is confronted with endless rise in costs of living and his wages are stagnant, obviously whether you know it or not, he is already experiencing pressures on his living standard.
“If you look at the minimum wage when it was fixed, the exchange rate was about N140 to a dollar, so N18,000 is about $130 a month. Now at N200 per dollar, N18,000 is about $90 and so you can see the only beneficiary in this kind of inflationary environment are those who have fixed assets like building because the more your naira is devalued, the higher the nominal value of your assets.”
Written by Muhammad Bello.
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