The presidency has again accused the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, of falsehood, by claiming that the relief package approved for states last week was drawn from the savings bequeathed by the Goodluck Jonathan administration.
After the National Economic Council, NEC, announced President Muhammadu Buhari’s approval of $1.2 billion for the states to enable them pay their workers’ outstanding salaries, the PDP in a statement said the money came from the savings in the Excess Crude Revenue Account left behind by its immediate past government.

Despite Presidency’s explanation that the money came from part of the dividend paid by the Nigeria LNG to the Federal Government a week earlier, the PDP spokesperson, Olisa Metuh, insisted the new administration and the All Progressives Congress, APC, were deceiving Nigerians. He said the disbursement contradicts the earlier came by Mr. Buhari that he met a near empty treasury upon assuming office.
But, Presidential spokesperson, Femi Adesina, who appeared on a Channels TV discussion programme at the weekend gave further insight to how the Federal Government came about the money. “What happened was that the Nigeria LNG held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) in May and declared profit and dividend. Tax accruable to the Federal Government was about $2.1 bn. The money did not hit the Federation Account until June 30,” Mr. Adesina said.

“Don’t mind the PDP that said the Jonathan government left the money. If the money got into the Federal Government coffers on June 30, how could they have left it, when the administration left office on May 29?” Mr. Adesina said it was only on July 7 that the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, confirmed to the Federal Government that the money was in the account. In view of what was happening, where most states could not pay salaries of their workers, Mr. Adesina said the President had to direct that the NLNG money that just came in be shared, so that the states could use part of it to settle their debts.

When the President met with the governors and gave them the information that the NLNG money had come out, Mr. Adesina said Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, had noted that he, as a member of the Council, did not remember when the previous government ever told them when the NLNG money came into the federal coffers. “Yet, NLNG was paying tax every year. Nobody heard when they paid in the past years. The money would just come in and disappear,” Mr. Adesina quoted Mr. Oshiomhole as recalling.

At the peak of the recent allegations of unauthorized withdrawal of $2 billion from the ECA, Mr. Oshiomhole told Channels TV that he had reason to confront the former Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, about details of the revenues, including payments of between $1.5 billion to $2 billion every year by the NLNG to the Federal Government. This time when the money came in, Mr. Adesina said the President decided to inaugurate the NEC, under the Chairmanship of the Vice-President, Yemi Osinbajo, to liaise with the states to disburse the money, since they also have a right to part of it.

Regardless, the presidential spokesperson also clarified that although the relief package came from the Federal Government, it was never a bailout, as was erroneously referred by a section of the media. “A bailout is when money is given out as a grant to a beneficiary without any expectation that it would be paid back. The money that was given out actually belongs to the states,” Mr. Adesina explained. On the criticism by the PDP that the president was very slow in his handling of issues since taking over, Mr. Adesina said those behind such criticisms were “victims of inordinate expectations”, who are obsessed with “too many unrealistic expectations.
”
“They had thought when President Buhari comes in, he would just wave a magic wand and every problem would disappear, and because that is not happening, they say he is slow,” he stated. “The President may seem slow, but there are certain problems that would never be tackled properly, unless you are sure-footed and contemplative in properly diagnosing it first. “Indeed, there are problems one cannot rush into solutions. If one does, there would be a lot of body movements. People may even applaud, at the end of the day, not much would be achieved. We are all faced with a cardiac arrest patient’s situation. If one is too much in a hurry to get immediate solutions, one may even lose the person.”

Although a picture of change could have been created during the campaigns, Mr. Adesina said the problem was dependent on how the people internalized that picture about the way things would eventually happen. “The kind of change that President Buhari seeks to bring, which will happen in the life of his administration, is one that would be enduring, which successive administrations can build upon. It is not magic.
“We trusted him and voted him to be our president, let us support him to exercise that mandate. Let’s trust him and his capacity to deliver, and he will get the job done,” Mr. Adesina said.


Credit: http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/186560-again-presidency-accuses-pdp-of-falsehood.html

u