The Federal Government said,
yesterday, it stopped paying Ekiti State funds
from the Budget Support Facility, BSF, because
the state failed to meet the requirements it set
for the programme in alliance with governors of
the 36 states of the federation.
A statement by the Director of Information of the
Federal Ministry of Information, Mr. Salisu
Na’Inna, in Abuja , yesterday, indicated that Ekiti
had been warned about the situation, as at
August, last year, but that the warning was
ignored.
Ekiti state Governor Ayodele Fayose and Minister
of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun
But Governor Fayose told Vanguard, yesterday,
that he was surprised to hear that the Finance
Minister actually denied stopping the
disbursement to Ekiti because of failure to meet
the requirements.
He said: ‘’She denied stopping our allocation
because we failed to meet the requirement at the
Federal Executive Council meeting, yesterday
(Wednesday).’’
However, Na’Inna said: “The fact is that Ekiti
State government failed to comply with the
necessary requirements for participating in the
Budget Support Facility, BSF, which is a
Conditional Loan Programme to state
governments introduced, with the view to
enhance fiscal prudence and designed
particularly to enhance transparency, efficiency
in public expenditure and payment of salaries.
“This is not the first time of non-compliance by
Ekiti State government. His administration
defaulted in meeting the conditions specified and
agreed upon by the 35 state governments that
are participating in the programme as contained
in the Fiscal Sustainability Plan (FSP) and Ekiti
State government was warned formally of its
failure to comply with the full requirements vide
a letter on August 5, 2016, with reference
number HMF/FMF/ASG/1/2016.
“The failure of Ekiti State government to comply
with the requirements and conditions for the
Budget Support Facility, BSF, resulted in a letter
sent to the Chief of Staff to notify him of the
suspension of BSF for Ekiti State and it was
conveyed to Mr. President before payment to
Ekiti State government was reinstated.
“Ekiti State government and all the other
participating states are aware of the
consequence of failure to comply with the full
conditions and it is not the first time that a statey
would be stopped from accessing the facility due
to non-compliance.
‘’In the course of its normal duties, the Ministry
of Finance has the right to query, suspend or
withhold funds as part of the conditions of the
Budget Support Facility.
“The process is for the Commissioner of Finance
of any state or the governor having issues to
contact the Federal Ministry of Finance and
resolve the issues without resorting to the media
because such issues are of a financial nature
and, therefore, confidential; they are routinely
resolved amicably by the parties involved.
“The Federal Ministry of Finance wishes to
restate very strongly that the Budget Support
Facility is a conditional programme and the
federal government would not be intimidated or
threatened in the discharge of its duties.”
When Vanguard asked to know what specific
conditions of the BSF Ekiti State failed to meet,
an official who insisted he must not be quoted,
said the Resolution by the State House of
Assembly, authorizing it, which should be
approved by the state Executive Council, was
never submitted by the state.
Another official said the BSF was a loan that
must be repaid, adding that each state must
meet the condition before it could benefit from it.
Ekiti State government in its reaction, described
the explanation as an afterthought meant to
mislead the public.
Special Assistant to the Governor on Public
Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka,
said the state signed for N14.4 billion and had
received funds monthly in the last seven months
from the Ministry of Finance.
“So when did they realise that Ekiti State did not
meet the conditions? Or did they send the
allocations in the last seven months in error?”
Olayinka queried.
He also argued that there was no warning letter
or notification from the Ministry of Finance
before the governor raised the alarm, else there
would have been no need for the governor to
write a letter to the ministry demanding
explanations on the non-release of the funds.
“If they sent any letter, maybe they sent it
today, because the governor was there yesterday
(Wednesday) and before then no one knew the
reasons the funds were not released.
“As I am talking to you, we have not received
any letter from the ministry, if they sent any
letter, maybe they sent it today. This
explanation is an afterthought.”
Olayinka also said he was aware that the funds
were earlier sent to the Central Bank of Nigeria
along those of other states, but was later
recalled, with the name of Ekiti State removed
from the list of 35 states.
It’s an attempt by APC to undermine Fayose’s
govt — PDP
Meanwhile, Ekiti State chapter of the Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP, has fingered the
leadership of All Progressives Congress, APC, in
the alleged seizure of the January federation
allocation to Ekiti State.
The party described the action as not only anti-
people but also a deliberate attempt to
undermine Ayo Fayose’s government and make
Ekiti ungovernable, ahead of the 2018
governorship election.
The PDP said this much was evident in the
statement issued by Ekiti State APC which
assumed the position of the spokesperson of
Federal Ministry of Finance, explaining the
reason behind the action of the FG as the time
the Minister of Finance was assuring the state
that the matter would be looked into.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti
State had on Wednesday, said there was no
truth in the claim of Governor Fayose that the
federal government had withheld the state
monthly allocation, saying what was withheld
was the special funds approved by the Federal
Government for budget support intervention in
states.
The APC accused Governor Ayodele Fayose of
lying and instigating Ekiti people against
President Muhammadu Buhari and APC-led
Federal Government and for blaming the federal
government for his inability to pay workers.
In a statement by the State Publicity Secretary,
Mr Jackson Adebayo, in Ado-Ekiti yesterday,
PDP added that APC had ignorantly exposed
itself with the statement, to the extent that the
whole world would not need any other
explanation than to conclude that Nigeria had
become a despotic state where fascism now
thrived.
Adebayo maintained that the APC-led Federal
Government had become a party of woe that
would not care about the welfare of the people it
governed.
“It’s only in a despotic state you can think of
government playing politics with the welfare of
the governed, while decorating governance with
blind vengeance as it operates now with the
APC- led federal government,’’ the party stated.
PDP stressed that it had been vindicated by the
various alarms that it had raised in the past that
the leadership of the APC had perfected plans to
wreak havoc in the state through dastardly
actions that would undermine the government of
the state, as part of its quest to wrestle power
from the PDP in 2018.
According to the PDP, the recent gathering of
leaders of APC in the house of the Special
Adviser on Political Affairs to the President,
Senator Babafemi Ojudu, is one of a series of
meetings where all nefarious plans against the
interest of Ekiti people are being regularly
orchestrated and hatched.
The PDP added that the party held at the end of
the meeting, was actually to celebrate the
seizure of the allocation to the state.
PDP further stated that the statement issued by
the APC on the withheld allocation was
preconceived and even prepared before the
action of the federal government, as all the
members of the party had the premonition of the
antics of their leaders who had boasted to them
on various occasions that from January 2017,
Ekiti State would not receive allocation again.
“The Ekiti PDP condemn this wickedness
masterminded by the APC to stifle life out of the
people of the state…”
Source: Vanguard
yesterday, it stopped paying Ekiti State funds
from the Budget Support Facility, BSF, because
the state failed to meet the requirements it set
for the programme in alliance with governors of
the 36 states of the federation.
A statement by the Director of Information of the
Federal Ministry of Information, Mr. Salisu
Na’Inna, in Abuja , yesterday, indicated that Ekiti
had been warned about the situation, as at
August, last year, but that the warning was
ignored.
Ekiti state Governor Ayodele Fayose and Minister
of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun
But Governor Fayose told Vanguard, yesterday,
that he was surprised to hear that the Finance
Minister actually denied stopping the
disbursement to Ekiti because of failure to meet
the requirements.
He said: ‘’She denied stopping our allocation
because we failed to meet the requirement at the
Federal Executive Council meeting, yesterday
(Wednesday).’’
However, Na’Inna said: “The fact is that Ekiti
State government failed to comply with the
necessary requirements for participating in the
Budget Support Facility, BSF, which is a
Conditional Loan Programme to state
governments introduced, with the view to
enhance fiscal prudence and designed
particularly to enhance transparency, efficiency
in public expenditure and payment of salaries.
“This is not the first time of non-compliance by
Ekiti State government. His administration
defaulted in meeting the conditions specified and
agreed upon by the 35 state governments that
are participating in the programme as contained
in the Fiscal Sustainability Plan (FSP) and Ekiti
State government was warned formally of its
failure to comply with the full requirements vide
a letter on August 5, 2016, with reference
number HMF/FMF/ASG/1/2016.
“The failure of Ekiti State government to comply
with the requirements and conditions for the
Budget Support Facility, BSF, resulted in a letter
sent to the Chief of Staff to notify him of the
suspension of BSF for Ekiti State and it was
conveyed to Mr. President before payment to
Ekiti State government was reinstated.
“Ekiti State government and all the other
participating states are aware of the
consequence of failure to comply with the full
conditions and it is not the first time that a statey
would be stopped from accessing the facility due
to non-compliance.
‘’In the course of its normal duties, the Ministry
of Finance has the right to query, suspend or
withhold funds as part of the conditions of the
Budget Support Facility.
“The process is for the Commissioner of Finance
of any state or the governor having issues to
contact the Federal Ministry of Finance and
resolve the issues without resorting to the media
because such issues are of a financial nature
and, therefore, confidential; they are routinely
resolved amicably by the parties involved.
“The Federal Ministry of Finance wishes to
restate very strongly that the Budget Support
Facility is a conditional programme and the
federal government would not be intimidated or
threatened in the discharge of its duties.”
When Vanguard asked to know what specific
conditions of the BSF Ekiti State failed to meet,
an official who insisted he must not be quoted,
said the Resolution by the State House of
Assembly, authorizing it, which should be
approved by the state Executive Council, was
never submitted by the state.
Another official said the BSF was a loan that
must be repaid, adding that each state must
meet the condition before it could benefit from it.
Ekiti State government in its reaction, described
the explanation as an afterthought meant to
mislead the public.
Special Assistant to the Governor on Public
Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka,
said the state signed for N14.4 billion and had
received funds monthly in the last seven months
from the Ministry of Finance.
“So when did they realise that Ekiti State did not
meet the conditions? Or did they send the
allocations in the last seven months in error?”
Olayinka queried.
He also argued that there was no warning letter
or notification from the Ministry of Finance
before the governor raised the alarm, else there
would have been no need for the governor to
write a letter to the ministry demanding
explanations on the non-release of the funds.
“If they sent any letter, maybe they sent it
today, because the governor was there yesterday
(Wednesday) and before then no one knew the
reasons the funds were not released.
“As I am talking to you, we have not received
any letter from the ministry, if they sent any
letter, maybe they sent it today. This
explanation is an afterthought.”
Olayinka also said he was aware that the funds
were earlier sent to the Central Bank of Nigeria
along those of other states, but was later
recalled, with the name of Ekiti State removed
from the list of 35 states.
It’s an attempt by APC to undermine Fayose’s
govt — PDP
Meanwhile, Ekiti State chapter of the Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP, has fingered the
leadership of All Progressives Congress, APC, in
the alleged seizure of the January federation
allocation to Ekiti State.
The party described the action as not only anti-
people but also a deliberate attempt to
undermine Ayo Fayose’s government and make
Ekiti ungovernable, ahead of the 2018
governorship election.
The PDP said this much was evident in the
statement issued by Ekiti State APC which
assumed the position of the spokesperson of
Federal Ministry of Finance, explaining the
reason behind the action of the FG as the time
the Minister of Finance was assuring the state
that the matter would be looked into.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti
State had on Wednesday, said there was no
truth in the claim of Governor Fayose that the
federal government had withheld the state
monthly allocation, saying what was withheld
was the special funds approved by the Federal
Government for budget support intervention in
states.
The APC accused Governor Ayodele Fayose of
lying and instigating Ekiti people against
President Muhammadu Buhari and APC-led
Federal Government and for blaming the federal
government for his inability to pay workers.
In a statement by the State Publicity Secretary,
Mr Jackson Adebayo, in Ado-Ekiti yesterday,
PDP added that APC had ignorantly exposed
itself with the statement, to the extent that the
whole world would not need any other
explanation than to conclude that Nigeria had
become a despotic state where fascism now
thrived.
Adebayo maintained that the APC-led Federal
Government had become a party of woe that
would not care about the welfare of the people it
governed.
“It’s only in a despotic state you can think of
government playing politics with the welfare of
the governed, while decorating governance with
blind vengeance as it operates now with the
APC- led federal government,’’ the party stated.
PDP stressed that it had been vindicated by the
various alarms that it had raised in the past that
the leadership of the APC had perfected plans to
wreak havoc in the state through dastardly
actions that would undermine the government of
the state, as part of its quest to wrestle power
from the PDP in 2018.
According to the PDP, the recent gathering of
leaders of APC in the house of the Special
Adviser on Political Affairs to the President,
Senator Babafemi Ojudu, is one of a series of
meetings where all nefarious plans against the
interest of Ekiti people are being regularly
orchestrated and hatched.
The PDP added that the party held at the end of
the meeting, was actually to celebrate the
seizure of the allocation to the state.
PDP further stated that the statement issued by
the APC on the withheld allocation was
preconceived and even prepared before the
action of the federal government, as all the
members of the party had the premonition of the
antics of their leaders who had boasted to them
on various occasions that from January 2017,
Ekiti State would not receive allocation again.
“The Ekiti PDP condemn this wickedness
masterminded by the APC to stifle life out of the
people of the state…”
Source: Vanguard
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