Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole has said the state lost about N10 billion to former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration through his Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, in the last four years.
The governor spoke yesterday in Benin, the state capital, when he made an approximated summation of the money that accrued to the state.
He said Edo State got N2.27 billion from the $2.1 billion generated from the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) to the Federation Accounts in the last four years.
Oshiomhole said: “The truth is that many things went wrong, even at the federal level. As you must have read in the papers, the Federal Government, at least under Goodluck Jonathan and the then Coordinating Minister, like to blame the governors for wasteful spending but not saving for the rainy day and for not investing properly. The truth is that the real weakness in the Nigerian development chain has been the Federal Government.
“Our hope is that the new President, because of who he is and his pedigree, will lead us to break from the past.
“Last week, I complained aloud that Edo State lost about N10 billion over a four-year period from only one source – the LNG remittance to the Federation Account.
“I ask myself about the $2.1 billion remitted by the LNG and backed by Shell (Petroleum Development Company). I think Shell is not the only oil operator. You have Chevron, you have Agip and the others. This is just one and it amounted to $2.1 billion.
“When they shared it, based on the revenue allocation formula, the Edo State Government got about N2.27 billion. So, I said, ‘Thank God, this money came after the departure of Okonjo-Iweala and President Jonathan.’ If the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were still in charge in Abuja, this money would have been taken. So, I realise that for four years that they were there, they did not remit this money. We were thinking that is all every year and I just multiplied it by four and then rounded down, instead of rounding off. It was N2.27 billion by four. That is more than N10 billion. But I wanted to be at the lower side; so, I rounded down.”
He added: “That is not the only money Edo State Government has lost.
“You heard from the last summit that $4.1 billion was in the Excess Crude Account as of November 2014. From that time till now, even today, we (local governments, state governments and the Federal Government) have not touched that money. We have not agreed to take any amount out of that money. Yet, the account is down to about $2 billion; meaning $2.1 billion has disappeared.
“If you listened and you followed the conversation, I made this allegation after the National Council of State meeting; that the former Minister of Finance, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala, took $2.1 billion without approval and illegally …in a manner that is never accounted for. For those of you who watch television, listen to radio or read newspapers, the minister replied that I lied, that they agreed – and it is in print – that it was the 36 commissioners representing the states and herself who agreed to distribute that money to the three tiers of government. She added that the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) is the most visible expression of her true federalism and that we should claim that the FAAC is unknown to us and that FAAC is a creation of law.”
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