Group condemns allegation of N60b, says it’s to distract government
By Tom Okpe
A Group, ‘Coalition of Civil Society Groups’ has condemned the allegation by the governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki that the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and the Federal Government printed N60b to augment March allocation to states, saying it’s to distract the government.
The Group in a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday said it will not sit down and watch nay sayers carry out fake rumours that will disabuse minds of citizens for political gains and distract government.
Chairman of the group, Bassey Etuk told journalists that the issues raised by Gov Obaseki that N60b was printed to augment the March 2021 FAAC allocation was orchestrated by enemies of government, just to whittle down confidence, Nigerians have in the present government, led by President Muhammadu Buhari and his efforts to invigorate the economy.
He said: “After our onsultations and enquires, we discovered that the allegation was just falshood, capable of distorting progress recorded so far, and as campaign to smear efforts of the performing governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN Godwin Emefiele.
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“Reports made available to us reveals that, going by the FAAC shared, the funds are monies generated and domiciled in the federation account, usually shared to states, every month.
“There was no evidence that the March allocation was borrowed, which contradicts the claims of those saying the March allocation money was printed by the CBN.
“We further discovered that all the state governments are owing CBN. These are bailout monies given to them to cushion effects of the difficulties experienced by the governors in their bid to deliver on good governance.”
Etuk admonished that the country doesn’t need these distractions at this critical period of its existence with challenges of insecurity and hunger adding, “we need patroitic interventions and equally expects progressives contributions towards developing and governing the Nigeria polity,” he added.
