The Edo State Governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki, has urged the
Federal Government to take urgent steps to end the current monetary rascality,
so as to prevent the prevailing economic challenge from degenerating further.
Obaseki, who has come under fire for saying that the Federal
Government printed N60bn to share as part of federal allocation in March, in a
statement he signed on Thursday, said it was time to stop playing the ostrich
and approach the Nigerian project with all sense of responsibility and
commitment.
Obaseki said this as the Central Bank of Nigeria faulted the
Edo State governor’s claim that it printed N60bn in March for the Federal
Government.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs
Zainab Ahmed, had faulted Obaseki on Wednesday.
In an interview with State House correspondents, the
minister described Obaseki’s claim as untrue.
But the governor on Thursday insisted on his position.
He stated, “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 the urgent step 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 no play to the
gallery because ultimately, time shall be the judge of us all,” he added.
CBN dismisses
Obaseki’s claim, to restrict forex for sugar, wheat
But the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, on Thursday dismissed
the claims that the apex bank printed
N60bn to augment the March 2021 disbursements of the Federation Account
Allocation Committee.
He also announced that the apex bank was working to include
sugar and wheat on the list of commodities that would be restricted from
accessing foreign exchange.
Speaking in Nasarawa State during an inspection tour of the
proposed $500m Dangote sugar processing facility, Emefiele said, “If you
understand the concept of printing of money, it is about lending money. That is
our job. To print is about lending money.
“So, there is no need
of putting all the controversy about printing of money as if we go into the
factory, print the naira and start distributing on the streets.
“It is very inappropriate for people to give colouration to
printing of money as if it is some foreign words coming from the sky.
“It’s important for me to put it this way that in 2015/16,
the kind of situation we found ourselves in, we did provide a budget support
facility to all the states of this country.
“That loan is still unpaid up till now. We are going to
insist on them paying back the money since they are accusing us of giving them
loans.”
On forex restriction for selected commodities, he said, “We
are looking at sugar and wheat. We started a programme on milk about two years
ago, eventually, these products will go into our forex restriction list.”
He said the CBN’s decision to include sugar and wheat on the
forex restriction list was because the country spends $600m to $1bn importing
sugar annually.
The Chairman, Caretaker Committee of the All Progressive
Congress, APC, Edo State, Col David Imuse, (retd.), chided the state governor.
Imuse in a statement by the Edo APC Assistant Publicity
Secretary, Victor Osehobo also described as laughable, unwarranted and
unfounded claims, credited to Obaseki
last week.
He said: “The true position is that under Governor Obaseki’s
watch, the economy of Edo State is in dire straits with the governor bereft of
ideas about how to get it out, with a foreign debt of $300m and a domestic debt
including loans from commercial banks, the capital market, and other doubtful
sources, approaching N120bn as at March this year, for non-existent projects.”
A member of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council, Mr
Bismark Rewane, said Ahmed and Obaseki, might not be wrong on the allegation of
the printout of N60bn in March.
Rewane, while featuring on a Channels TV programme,
‘Politics Today’ on Thursday said the difference between what the governor and
the minister were saying was like trying to differentiate between six and half
a dozen..”
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