Obaseki fires back at FG, says ‘I stand by my claim on printing of N60bn’

Godwin Obaseki, Governor of Edo State, has said he is standing by his claims that the Federal Government printed N60 billion in March to support allocation to states.

While speaking at the Edo state transition committee stakeholder’s engagement over the weekend, he claimed the Federal Government printed money to bridge FAAC allocation.

The Edo governor had lamented the fiscal state of the nation, stating Nigeria is in financial quagmire.

“When we got FAAC for March, the federal government printed additional N50-N60 billion to top-up for us to share,” he had said.

But the Federal Government on Wednesday faulted his claim, dismissing it as sad.

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, said Mr Obaseki’s claim was very sad because it was “untrue”.

Reacting to the Nigerian government counter-claims on Thursday, Mr Obaseki, through his official twitter handle, said: “We believe it is our duty to offer useful advice for the benefit of our country

“The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, @ZShamsuna should rally Nigerians to stem the obvious fiscal slide facing our country.

“Rather than play the Ostrich, we urge the government to take urgent steps to end the current monetary rascality so as to prevent the prevailing economic challenge from degenerating further.

“We believe it is imperative to approach the Nigerian project with all sense of responsibility and commitment and not play to the gallery because ultimately time shall be the judge of us all.”