Obaseki fires back at Finance minister, over denial of printed N60bn

The ongoing war of words between Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo and Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed is heating up as the governor advised the minister to ‘rally Nigerians to stem the obvious fiscal slide facing the country’.

His response comes a day after Mrs. Ahmed denied the claims that the Federal Government printed N60bn to distribute to the states as allocation for the month of March.

She described his claims as false and sad.

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 revenue that is generated and in fact distribution revenue is 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.

“On the issue of the borrowing, the Nigerian debt is still within sustainable limit. What we need to do as I have said several times is to improve our revenue to enhance our capacity to service not only our debt but to service the needs of running the government on day to day basis.

“So our debt currently at about 23% to GDP is at a very sustainable level. If you look at all the reports that you see from multilateral institutions.”

But reacting to the above statement, Obaseki via his twitter handle opined: “While we do not want to join issues with the @FinMinNigeria , we believe it is our duty to offer useful advice for the benefit of our country.

“The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, @ZShamsuna should rally Nigerians to stem the obvious fiscal slide facing our country.

“Rather than play the Ostrich, we urge the government to take urgent steps 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 not play to the gallery because ultimately, time shall be the judge of us all.”