States get N12bn refund from FG

Yinka Oladoyinbo, Akure - 04.02.2008

The Federal Government has refunded the $12 billion deducted from the Federation Account to settle the debt owed the Paris Club into the accounts of the 36 state governments and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The Ondo State Commissioner for Finance and Planning, who is also the chairman of Forum of Commissioners of Finance, Chief Tayo Alasoadura, who disclosed this on Friday, said the state got $69 million as refund in December.

The Olusegun Obasanjo administration had paid $18billion to exit the Paris Club group of creditors out of which a sum of $12billion was deducted from the federation account.

The development, however, did not go down well with the state governors who argued that not all the states owed the Paris Club and for those that owed, the amount owed differed from state to state.

Despite the protests of the governors, the Debt Management Office (DMO) continued to deduct at least N70 million from the allocation of the states throughout the tenure of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

But Alasoadura said the Federal Government in December released all the previous deductions to the coffers of the state governments. Speaking on the state of finance of the state, the commissioner said the state got a sum of $69 million as refund from the Federation Account, adding that the amount was paid in December during the Federal Allocation and Account Committee (FAAC) meeting.
According to him, the state received of N13, 038,278,746.16 as revenue from the Federation Account in December 2007 alone, while in October it got N4.4 billion and N4 billion in November of the same year.