"State Govt Wanted Us To Borrow From The Central Bank But We Resisted" - Minister Of Finance, Zainab Ahmed Counters Governor Obaseki's Claim

Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed

Zainab Ahmed, Minister of Finance, has again denied Governor Godwin Obaseki's claim that the federal government printed N50-60 billion for states to share in March.

Zainab Ahmed who appeared on a Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) program on Monday April 19, admitted that they had a shortfall of N50 billion in the federation account allocation committee (FAAC) in March.

She stated that though states wanted the federal government to borrow from the Central Bank, they resisted and told everybody to go back to live within what they had. She added that it was very suprising when they heard a sitting governor saying that CBN has printed money for FAAC as it is not true.

Ahmed said;

“It is a difficult time, I can explain to you how difficult it is not just for the federal government but also for the states, we see increasing reduction in our FAAC revenue.

“In the month of March, we had a shortfall of FAAC that is almost about N50 billion and we did not have enough accrued in any of those accounts, the states to be honest wanted us to borrow from the Central Bank, but we resisted, we just told everybody to go back to live within what they had.

“So it was very surprising for us when we heard a sitting governor saying that CBN has printed money for FAAC, that was very unfortunate because it is not true.”