The CBN governor Emefiele lambastes Gov. Obaseki over allegation of printing N60 billion
GoldenNewsNg gathered that the federal government has given more clarifications over the allegation made by the governor of Edo state, Godwin Obaseki, that N60 billion was printed to augment its March monthly allocations to the states and local governments.
The Sun reports that the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, said the apex bank would ensure the full and timely repayment of all facilities extended to states.
Emefiele made this known on Thursday, April 15, at the end of a facility tour of Dangote Sugar plantation in Awe, Nasarawa state.
He stated that the N614 billion budget support facility was extended to the states between 2016 and 2018 to offset the backlog of unpaid salaries and other emoluments due to the recession occasioned by the crude oil slump.
The report noted that President Muhammadu Buhari had in July 2015, approved a robust intervention package of $2.1 billion to assist handicapped states to pay salaries.
Emefiele, however, described Obaseki’s position on printing about N60 billion to shore up March subvention by the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) as totally inappropriate.
He said:
“If you understand the concept of printing of money, it’s about lending money. That is our job. To print is about lending money. So, there is no need of putting up controversy about printing money as if we go into the factory, print the naira and start distributing on the streets.
The Punch also reports that Emefiele on Thursday, April 15, dismissed the claims that the apex bank printed money to augment the March 2021 disbursements of the FAA committee.
He announced that the CBN was working to include sugar and wheat on the list of commodities that would be restricted from accessing foreign exchange.
Emefiele said the CBN’s decision to include sugar and wheat on the forex restriction list was because the country spends $600m to $1bn importing sugar annually.
The CBN boss said:
“It’s important for me to put it this way that in 2015/16, the kind of situation we found ourselves in, we did provide a budget support facility to all the states of this country.
“That loan is still unpaid up till now. We are going to insist on them paying back the money since they are accusing us of giving them loans.”
Meanwhile, report has it that the federal government denied it printed N60 billion to augment March allocation to states as alleged by the governor of Edo, Godwin Obaseki.
It was reported that the government described the allegation by the governor as untrue and sad.
The minister of finance, budget and national planning, Zainab Ahmed, debunked the claim while answering questions from State House correspondents on Wednesday, April 14.
