NEC Debunks Printing N60bn To Augment Allocations
The National Economic Council (NEC) has dismissed allegations that the Federal Government printed N60 billion to shore up allocations that were shared by states in March.
The Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki had accused the Federal Government of financial recklessness in printing extra cash to meet up with allocations, whilst also faulting the current administration’s borrowing pattern.
But the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, had denied the allegation.
However, during its virtual meeting on Thursday, the NEC presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, having received presentations from the Minister of Finance, the Central Bank (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele and the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), said it was satisfied that no money was printed for March allocation.
The meeting was attended by many Governors, the FCT Minister, as well as the Ministers of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi; Information and Culture Lai Mohammed; Aviation Senator Hadi Sirika and Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu.
The Council expressed satisfaction with clarifications made by the NGF which was represented by its Chairman, Governor John Kayode Fayemi, Zainab Ahmed and Godwin Emefiele concerning the alleged printing of N60 billion by the Federal Government.
The Minister and CBN Governor stated that the allegation of the printing of money to augment allocation was outright falsehood and should be discarded as such.
The Governors, having critically reviewed the matter, unanimously expressed satisfaction with clarifications made by the NGF represented by its Chairman, Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, Finance Minister, Hajiya Zainab Ahmed and the Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele.
While the Finance Minister categorically debunked that Naira was printed to back up allocation last month, the CBN Governor fully supported the position of the minister, and the Chairman of NGF also noted that he knew no such thing happened at all.
As the highest constitutional body tasked with economic affairs in the country, the NEC affirmed same, according to the spokesman of Vice President Laolu Akande.
Concerning security, the NEC emphasized the need to address the problems of agitation in parts of the country, noting that “these agitations are common with countries with huge and diverse populations like ours and it is important not to allow the minority to hijack the mainstream of opinion.”
The Council also directed States “to hold consultations and dialogues on the issues and report back by the next meeting of Council so that a firm position would be taken on the recommendations of the Townhall meeting.”
NEC further urged all States to be proactive and always hold consultations on diverse opinions, even when there are no agitations.
“We encourage States to always hold wider consultations to have diverse opinions on burning issues, taking into consideration local peculiarities and report back to NEC the outcome of the consultations.
“The planed state-wide consultations on national consensus would be reached on the recommendations of the national town hall meeting held in Kaduna, which included the adoption of State Police among other matters.
In other matters, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning gave update to Council that the Excess Crude Account (ECA) Balance as at 22nd April 2021 was $72, 413,008.60. She said that stabilization account balance as at 22nd April, 2021 is N23,299,008,799.06.
Under Natural Resources Development Account, the Minister put the Balance as at 22nd April, 2021 as N77, 742,012,342.87.
Concerning Budget support facility, Finance Minister observed that the deductions for repayment by States are meant to resume in May.
The Governors however requested for an extension considering the economic challenges in the States.
The Central Bank Governor explained the technical challenges involved should there be a further postponement of the deductions.
The Vice President then directed that a meeting be held soon after Thursday’s NEC where the issue would be properly considered and a decision reached.
NEC also received a presentation on the current status of water, sanitation, and hygiene services level across the country as revealed by the 2019 WASH National Outcome Routine Mapping (WASH-NORM II) survey jointly carried out by the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and National Bureau of Statistics in collaboration with UNICEF.
Under the 2019 survey, six modules were adopted: (1) Households, comprising Water Quality assessments and household WASH; (2) Water Facilities, (3) WASH in Educational Facilities, (4) WASH in Health facilities and (5) WASH in Public places (markets and motor parks), and (6) Water Utilities and Consumer Satisfaction Survey.
According to key findings from 2019 WASH-NORM survey, the percentage of the population with access to basic water supply services has steadily increased from 67% in 2015to 68% in 2018, and 70% in 2019.
In terms of population figures, these changes equate to about 9 million more people gaining access to basic water supply services between 2018 and 2019.
However, only14% of the population has access to safely managed drinking water supply services, which means that up to 171 million Nigerians are still off the SDG target 6.1.
On access to sanitation, indicators across the country show a slight improvement as 44% of the population were found to have access to basic sanitation services in 2019 compared to 42% in 2018.
Only 17% of the population use improved sanitation facilities that have proper handwashing facilities with soap.
The number of people practicing open defecation marginally changed from 24% in 2018 to 23% in 2019 meaning that about 46 million people are still defecating in the open.
About 27% of markets and motor parks have access to basic water supply services. Accessibility of persons living with disabilities is very low at 17%. About a quarter of markets and motor parks (24%) have access to basic sanitation services and slightly more than half (53%) of markets and motor parks do not have toilets for public use.
28 out of 36 States plus FCT have urban water utilities out of which only 16 are functional and producing water for the people. The functional 16 State Water Agencies (SWA) have a total number of 1,171 water works which 41% is operational.
Council, therefore, welcomed the key findings from the 2019 WASH-NORM survey and noted that the Ministry has commenced the third round of WASH-NORM Survey in 2021 and is hereby urging all the States and FCT to support the process.
Also, presenting the National Aviation Infrastructure Development Plan, Prospects of Leveraging Private Sector Capacity on Infrastructure Development, the Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, stated that the Federal Ministry of Aviation is saddled with the overall responsibility of formulating and managing of aviation policies. He also explained the mandates carried out by his ministry.
The VP will chair the next meeting and the Governors would be represented by Governor Kayode Fayemi, while the Finance Minister and the Central Bank Governor both of whom attended the Thursday’s meeting would also participate.
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