Governors deny receiving bailout from FG

State governors have denied receiving a bailout from the Federal Government, insisting that what was shared was money from the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) dividend and statutory allocations from the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee, which are naturally their due.The governors also said they are worried over the high exchange rate of the naira to other foreign currencies.

They expressed this worry after their meeting in Abuja on Wednesday night, which ended in the early hours of Thursday.

The meeting was attended by a majority of the governors.

The governor of Zamfara State, who doubles as the chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, Alhaji Abdullaziz Yari, read the communiqué of the meeting to journalists.

“We are going to discuss with Mr. President to seek lasting solutions to the worsening macroeconomic challenges confronting the nation, especially on foreign exchange stability.

“The forum pledges to work with Mr. President to ensure coherent policy actions that will create a clear policy direction for the country and stimulate domestic production”.

According to Yari, the forum discussed health issues and that the governors pledged to cooperate with the Federal Government to ensure that the National Health Act is operational.

“Sequel to presentation made by the Country Representative of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the forum agreed to aggressively support the total eradication of polio in the country.”

Yari also denied the insinuations that the money given to the states was meant to bail them out of their financial crisis, insisting that what was shared was money from the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Company Limited and Federation Accounts Allocation Committee, which, he said, were legitimate earnings for the three tiers of the government.

“It is also to inform our brothers in the media that yet the Federal Government has not given any bailout to any of the states.

“What had been shared last time was monies from NLNG and FAAC and as we have been saying, we have not been looking for bailout, instead, we have been looking for all monies that are in the coffers of the federation account, most especially we are talking about some of the monies that are hung around the coffers of government to be brought together for the purpose of sharing.”

The state governors later on Thursday attended the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The meeting started when Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who presided over the closed-door meeting arrived the Council Chamber at few minutes past 11.00a.m.

Issues discussed at the meeting included the report of a four-man committee mandated to investigate incomes and spending from the Excess Crude Account and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) account from 2012 till the end of last administration