Chairman of the Nigeria
Governors’ Forum and Governor of Ekiti State, Dr Kayode Fayemi, has assured the
Federal Government that the governors were prepared to pay back what their
various states were owing it, if and when accounts were reconciled.
Fayemi announced this while
reading the communiqué of the forum meeting held on Wednesday night in Abuja.
He was reacting to the Federal
Government’s resolution to recover N614 billion loan facility from 35 states of
the federation, saying that they were ready to pay but that there should be
reconciliation of accounts.
According to him, “If you borrow,
you pay. We are never averse to payment of loans under legal environment and we
don’t want a situation that will put our financial system in jeopardy.
“However, governors believe that
we are ready to pay, we also have a duty to ensure a reconciliation of account
as far as monies owed to states may be concerned.”
He lamented that “It is a storm
in a tea cup when we read about governors refusing to pay. We don’t have such
an issue, we are ready to pay.”
Earlier, Minister of Finance,
Budget and National Planning Zainab Ahmed had said that the Federal Government
had resolved to recover N614 billion loan facility from 35 states of the
federation.
The minister revealed this when
she briefed State House correspondents on the meeting of the National Economic
Council (NEC), presided by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, at the State House,
Abuja.
Mrs Ahmed said that each of the
affected 35 states received N17.5 billion as bail out from the federal
government.
She said that the council had
already agreed to constitute a team to finalise modalities for commencement of
repayment of the loan facility.
Fayemi also said that the forum
received a presentation from Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NiMet), advising
that the country should expect above average rainfall which had already caused
severe flooding in several states.
He added that the forum also
received briefing on meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari and from the
Inspector-General of Police “on the unlawful invasion” of some governors’
residences.
He regarded the incident as a
direct violation of the immunity of the governors.
On World bank assisted
programmes, he said “The forum received a briefing on the status of the world
bank assisted State Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability
Programme (SFTAS).
“The team from the World Bank
assured the forum that all assessments now imply that states have improved in
transparency ratings over the last quarter.”he said.
Fayemi said that the forum also
received the new Country Director of the World Bank, Shubham Chaudhuri, whose
tour of duty would begin on October 1.
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