Finance Minister, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, has confirmed that the Federal Government indeed withheld allocations due to Ekiti. She cited non-conformity on the part of the state government with regulations regarding disbursement of such funds by the ministry.
A statement by the Director of Information in the Ministry of finance, Alhaji Salisu Na’Inna Dambatta, said the action was taken because it had become the habit of Ekiti State not to obey rules set for disbursement. The statement further said the claims by the Ekiti State Government were spurious.
“The 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 enhancing fiscal prudence and designed to enhance transparency, efficiency in public expenditure and payment of salaries.
“This is not the first the Ekiti State Government failed to comply with the rules. It had defaulted in meeting the conditions specified and agreed upon by the 36 state governments that are participating in the programme as contained in the Fiscal Sustainability Plan (FSP) and the 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 statement read.
It further stated that 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 the Ekiti State Government was reinstated.
Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has denied reports that its governor, Godwin Emefiele and some top management staff have been queried by the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) over the sale of foreign exchange.
Acting Director of Corporate Communications, Mr. Isaac Okoarafor, said in a statement yesterday that the apex bank observed that while it was perfectly normal for any agency of government to seek clarifications on any matter from other agencies of government, it wishes to clarify that neither the governor of the CBN nor the Director, Legal Services Department, received any communication with regard to the issue.
The CBN said as a responsible government institution, the third currency transactions should be in line with the prevailing forex rate range in the interbank market, when properly examined.
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