Why salaries of workers may be delayed in many states - Kemi Adeosun

macfranc007 June 29, 2018 Nigeria News today & Breaking news ▷ Read Naija news 24/7 Kess Ewubare

- The minister of finance, Kemi Adeosun, says the NNPC is operated as a business and returns are expected from it

- She gives the balances in the Excess Crude Account to be 1.91 billion dollars, stabilisation account N18.89 billion and Natural Resources Account to be N133.71 billion

- Lai Mohammed says Buhari has recorded greater achievements in southeast than PDP

Salaries of workers across states of the federation may be delayed if the issues that forced a deadlock in the federation accounts and allocation committee (FAAC) meeting with governors remain unresolved.

The minister of finance, Kemi Adeosun, gave the warning on Thursday, June 28, when speaking on the outcome of the federation accounts and allocation committee (FAAC) meeting.

In a statement issued by Oluyinka Akintunde, her special adviser on media and communications, Adeosun at the 89th meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC) in her capacity as the chairman of FAAC briefed the governors on the deadlock in the Federation Account in May.

She also said that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), was operated as a business and returns were expected from it.

“I gave an account that I give every month on the balances in our Excess Crude Account (ECA) and the Stabilisation Account.

“Items to note in the ECA are that in May 2018, we had an additional credit of 80.6 million dollars that accrued into it.

“For the purpose of this briefing, we operate NNPC as a business.

“We have invested public capital in that business and we have expectations of return and when that return falls lower than our expectations, then the owners of the business, which in this case is the Federal Government and States need to act.

“So, that was what caused the deadlock yesterday and we really felt the figures that the NNPC proposed for FAAC were unacceptable.

“We felt that some of the costs could not be justified and so we have decided that rather than approve the accounts, we will go back and do further work.’’

Adeosun, however, said that further negotiations and interactions were presently ongoing with the NNPC.

She added that President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo were also briefed on the deadlock asking for their support and their forbearance on the issue.

The minister said that this was because the consequence was that workers’ salaries may be delayed in many states as a result of the deadlock.

“In order to get the accurate figures that we need, we have asked for forbearance and the state governors and the Federal Government are all in agreement that we need to get to the bottom of these figures.

“In particular, now that the oil price is now 76 dollars per barrel in the spot market which means that bonny light is about 78 dollars per barrel, we want to aggressively set aside money in the excess crude account.

“So, we are very conscious that this period, this window of relatively high oil price might not last and we would like to be able to save.

“If we cannot get into the federation account the sort of revenues we are expecting then we will not be able to save.’’

Adeosun said it was a very important point underscored by all the governors, adding that they really wanted action taken.

She also said that they are fully in support of the positions of the Ministry of Finance and the Commissioners of Finance not to approve the accounts until they got further explanations on some of the cost being implemented.

On the issue with NNPC, the minister said based on oil price and oil quantity you could calculate what to expect to see in the federation account and if the figure was less, the right question any stakeholder must ask was why?

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“So, we have been going back and forth with NNPC to try and understand these figures before we can accept them.

“Remember that the FAAC figures have to be formally accepted by FAAC and we were simply not comfortable with the quantum of some of the deductions made and therefore we could not approve those figures.

“As we speak, there is an interface going on between the Commissioners of Finance Forum, Ministry of Finance, Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and the NNPC.

“We hope to be able to convene FAAC within the next few days,’’ she said.

She, however, gave the balances in the ECA to be 1.91 billion dollars, stabilisation account N18.89 billion and Natural Resources Account to be N133.71 billion.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that for some months now, FAAC participants have been experiencing difficulties in agreeing with figures because of revenue remittance discrepancies.

To other news, the minister of information and culture, Lai Mohammed, says President Muhammadu Buhari led administration recorded greater achievements in the south-east than the 16 years government of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The minister said this on Wednesday, June 27, in Aba, when inspecting the Enugu-Port Harcourt dual carriage way reconstruction and rehabilitation, The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

Specifically, he said the strategic Enugu-Port Harcourt road in the region was awarded by the PDP administration in 2014 but abandoned due to no cash backing.

Mohammed said upon assumption of office, the Buhari administration had funded the project to over 50% completion.

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