[ad_1]
The entire oil-rich Niger Delta region was at peace with itself until Governor Nyesom Ezenwo Wike of Rivers State, penultimate week, threw the region into controversy with his ‘revelation’ that President Muhammadu Buhari had paid all the outstanding due to the oil-producing states as shortfall from the 13% derivation funds. Expectedly, the reactions from his brother-governors have been as controversial as the ‘revelation’ itself. ’SUYI AYODELE, AMAECHI OKONKWO, EBENEZER ADUROKIYA; ALPHONSUS AGBHOR; EBIOWEI LAWAL and UDEME UTIP, spoke with the various state governments.
Dateline was Friday, November 18, 2022. Event was the inauguration of the Dr Nabo Graham Douglas Law School, Rumueme, Port Harcourt. The school, though a Federal Government institution, was built solely by the Rivers State government. And to inaugurate the edifice, Wike invited President Buhari from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to open the flagship project by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
But that was not the controversy, or, better still: that was not the only controversy. Speaking while opening the project where Buhari was represented by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), Wike said all Niger Deltans should be grateful to President Buhari for approving and paying all monies accruable to the Niger Delta states as shortfalls from the 13 per cent oil derivation funds since 1999. In essence, even when the PDP was in power for 16 years, the party did not pay the monies until President Buhari›s then opposition party, APC, took over power in 2015!
Wike did not stop there, he added that part of the money paid by the Buhari administration was what he had been using to execute the numerous projects his administration had executed in the state and which earned him the sobriquet of “Mr. Projects”. He praised Buhari to high heavens for not playing politics with the money despite the fact that most states of the Niger Delta belong to the opposition PDP.
He said: “Monies that were not paid since 1999, the 13 per cent deductions, Mr. President approved and paid all of us from Niger Delta states. For me, it will be unfair not to say it to the public. It is not from FAAC money, it is the money paid to me as Rivers State, Delta State, Akwa Ibom State, Edo State and Bayelsa State. So, I want to sincerely, from my heart and on behalf of the government and people of the state, thank Mr. President for this because as an opposition government, he may as well say don’t pay, you can’t do anything. After all, since 1999 the money has not been paid. Did we do anything?”
Delta got N14.7 billion out of N240 billion arrears – Commissioner
The first state to react was Delta State, which claimed that it had only received the sum of N14.7 billion as refund from the 13 per cent oil derivation in three quarterly installments of N4.9 billion each.
Chief Fidelis Tilijie, Delta State Commissioner for Finance, who spoke on behalf of the state government, said that the actual shortfall due to the state was N250 billion, which the Federal Government agreed to pay in quarterly installments for a period of five years.
“With the agreed amounts settled, some states like Rivers approached commercial banks and discounted theirs in full and collected, but Senator (Dr) Ifeanyi Okowa said he would not want to leave the next administration with a huge debt burden. He resorted to discounting only N150 billion out of the N240 billion expected receivables but later pruned it down to N100 billion.
“So far, we have got N14.7 billion in three quarterly installments and we have also accessed N30 billion out of the N100 billion we applied for as bridging finance” he further explained.
Tilijie stated that contrary to the impression given by Wike that previous administrations in the country refused to pay the money to the oil-producing states, the discovery of the outstanding funds was made by the current Commissioners for Finance in the Niger Delta states.
“The present Commissioners for Finance of the nine Niger Delta states looked into the books of the NNPC and discovered that 13 per cent derivation was not deducted from subsidy payments and investments in priority projects by the corporation. We took the matter before the FAAC and National Economic Council and got them to approve the payment in arrears to the affected oil-producing states.
“It is important to state that this was only discovered under the Buhari administration, which he subsequently approved. It is not that previous PDP administrations refused to pay. It was never discovered then neither was it brought to their notice,” he emphasised.
The Commissioner for Information, Mr. Charles Aniagwu, who reacted to claims by the APC presidential candidate, Sen. Bola Tinubu and Delta governorship sandidate, Sen. Ovie Omo-Agege in which they alleged that Gov. Okowa could not account for monies received over the period, said the state had utilised its resources to the benefit of the people.
Edo received N2.1bn refund out of N28 billion
The Edo State government, while reacting to Wike’s claim, said that it only got a total of N2.1 billion paid in three installments of N700 million per quarter.
Addressing newsmen last Wednesday, the trio of Chris Osa Nehikhare (Commissioner for Communications and Orientation); Joseph Eboigbe (Commissioner for Budgets and Planning) and Crusoe Osagie (Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to Governor Godwin Obaseki), noted that Governor Wike was only playing politics of the present circumstance of electioneering campaign for the 2023 elections.
This was just as the state government said that the immediate past National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and former governor of the state, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, constituted an embarrassment for daring to interrogate the financial probity of the state government over the matter.
Nehikhare, who was the first to speak, said that it amounted to perfidy for Oshiomhole to accuse the Governor Godwin Obaseki administration of financial infidelity, given the huge debt Oshiomhole left in the state after his eight-year tenure as a governor.
“Edo State government will not like to go into argument with Adams Oshiomhole on the issue of financial matters. Here is a man who met a debt of N14 billion, received over N1 trillion as allocations in eight years but left a debt of N160 billion when he completed his two terms. We will only like to state that Oshiomhole lacks the moral authority to talk about transparency and financial honesty. We will respond to him at the appropriate time since we heard he is also contesting,” Nehikhare said.
Explaining the controversial 13 per cent derivation fund shortfall to the Commissioner for Budget and Planning, Eboigbe said that it was the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) which first noticed that the Federal Government was shortchanging the states and raised the alarm.
“As you are all aware, all Commissioners of Finance of the federation go for FAAC meetings. It was at the FAAC meeting that the Niger Delta states discovered that the Federal Government was short-paying the Niger Delta states the 13 per cent derivation funds.
“The shortfalls were computed and they amounted to N1 trillion. The Federal Government accepted the figure and agreed to pay the oil-producing states the shortfalls based on an agreed allocation formula. What was due to Edo State was N28 billion. The Federal Government said it would pay back in a period of five years on quarterly basis. For Edo State the Federal Government agreed to pay the sum of N700 million per quarter and so far, it has paid for only three quarters amounting to N2.1 billion. The records are there for anybody to check. The Federal Government is also aware that it has paid for just three quarters of the five-year payment plan and it paid N700 million for each of the three quarters,” Eboigbe explained.
On why the state government had to wait for Wike to make the payment public before they disclosed the payment, Nehikhare explained that the payment of N700 million on a quarterly basis to Edo State was to infinitesimal for the government to begin to call for press briefing to announce that, saying that the internally-generated revenue (IGR) of the state was about N3 billion monthly and that, added to the regular allocations, made the derivation funds shortfalls payment to pale into insignificance.
Akwa Ibom is prudent in its expenditure
Governor Emmanuel, who did not disclose the exact amount his administration had collected from the federal government as areas of the 13 per cent derivation to Niger Delta states since 1999, emphasised that the amount of money collected from the funds was well expended and could be accounted for at any time.
ALSO READ FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
Governor Emmanuel, who spoke while taking delivery of new Airbuses as addition to IbomAir fleet, explained that part of the money was used to complete the Maintain Overhaul and Repair (MRO) hanger of the Victor Attah International Airport which is billed to be inaugurated in January 2023. He added that so much revenue in foreign currencies was expected in the coffers of the state as internally-generated revenue (IGR) when the MRO is operational.
He disclosed that apart from the two Airbuses recently received, additional 10 Airbuses had been paid for, to be delivered in 2023 even as four out of the 10 would arrive before May 29 expiry date of his tenure.
In addition, the governor added at least 40 indigenes of the state; 20 engineers and 20 pilots were sponsored to Air France to be trained on AG 20300 Series and other series of Airbus, stressing that over 100 kilometers of road from Uyo to the Atlantic Ocean had been awarded to Julius Berger and CCECC, to be completed with three hanging bridges and highway lights, which budget was approved by the state House of Assembly.
He, however, carpeted the Federal Government, saying that going by the budget of the road construction from Odukpani to Ikot Ekpene which is only 17 kilometers and gulped N79.6b, the money collected would not be enough for the 100-kilometer road.
Bayelsa using derivation funds prudently – Gov Diri
Bayelsa State governor, Senator Douye Diri, in his reaction to Governor Wike›s statement, said that the 13 per cent oil derivation funds accruing to the state is being prudently spent, mostly on infrastructure development.
Senator Diri stated this when he received the Interim Administrator, Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Maj. Gen. Barry Ndiomu (retd), at Government House, Yenagoa.
The Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Daniel Alabrah, said in a statement that the governor reiterated that his administration had nothing to hide and that the state’s monthly allocations from the Federation Account had always been made public through its monthly transparency briefings.
He however explained that what the state received as 13% derivation refund from the time of the previous administration was being paid in installments after it had been discounted. He equally stated that the amount did not make much impact in terms of development, maintaining that the income and expenditure of the state were accounted for on a monthly basis through the transparency briefings.
Diri further stated that the cost of construction in a difficult terrain like Bayelsa was three or more times higher than elsewhere, adding that the cost of constructing a road in the state was more than that of three or four flyovers in some other states even in the Niger Delta region.
He said: “For people who are talking about the 13% derivation funds due the state, I want to state that for one reason or the other, we were under-paid. When we discovered that, we followed due process from the state executive council to the state House of Assembly.
“Approvals were given and the funds were discounted. I do not play politics with this kind of thing. Anybody who wants to see how we use our money, our monthly transparency briefing on our financial income and expenditure are available.
“One kilometer road we build in Yenagoa costs more than three or four-kilometer roads built elsewhere.”
[ad_2]
