Obaseki blasts finance minister, insists FG printed N60bn

The Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki has blamed the Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, for refuting that the Federal Government printed N60 billion in March to assist distribution to states.

Obaseki, who faulted the Federal Government of “monetary rascality’, also confronted the finance minister, Ahmed, for “playing the Ostrich”.

The Governor declared this in a string of tweets to respond to the denial by Zainab that his assertion on Federal Government’s printing of N60bn was “untrue”.

He said, “While we do not want to join issues with the Federal Ministry of Finance, we believe it is our duty to offer useful advice for the benefit of our country.

“The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, should rally Nigerians to stem the obvious fiscal slide facing our country.

“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.

“We believe 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 us all.”

Obaseki was last week cited as giving warning over the financial situation of Nigeria, which he stated made the CBN print about N60billion to supplement allotment shared by states in March.

“When we got FAAC for March, the Federal Government printed additional N50-N60 billion to top-up for us to share.

“This April, we will go to Abuja and share. By the end of this year, our total borrowings are going to be within N15-N16 trillion,” Obaseki had bemoaned during the weekend.

However, while responding to questions from State House journalists on Wednesday, the minister stated that the allegation of Obaseki was false.

Ahmed stated, “The issue that was raised by the Edo State Governor, for me, is 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.

“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.”