The federal government has denied the claim of governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, that it printed N60 billion in March to support federal allocation to states.
Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, while answering questions by journalists at the State House on Wednesday.
She said: “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 a revenue that is generated and in fact distribution revenue is a 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.”
Okay.ng recalls that Obaseki had on Saturday, April 10, 2021, while speaking at the Edo transition committee stakeholders engagement said Nigeria is in ‘huge financial trouble’, revealing the Federal Government had to print N60bn in March for state governors to share.
“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”, the governor said.