Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State claimed that the Muhammadu Buhari government printed N60 billion as part of the federal allocation for March 2021.
Truetells Nigeria reports that the governor stated this at the Edo State Transition Committee Stakeholders’ Engagement on April 10, 2021.
The governor said Nigeria was in huge financial trouble, adding that the rising debt profile is worrisome as dependence on crude oil is no longer sustainable.
Obaseki had said the economy is no longer what it used to be and expressed worry that the country has continued to borrow despite unclear means of refunding payments.
He said, “When we got FAAC for March, the federal government printed an additional N50 to N60 billion to top up for us to share.
“This April, we will go to Abuja and share. By the end of this year, our total borrowings will be within N15-N16 trillion. Imagine a family that is just borrowing without any means to pay back, and nobody is looking at that. Everybody is looking at 2023. Everybody is blaming Mr. President as if he is a magician.
“Nigeria has changed. The economy of Nigeria is not the same again, whether we like it or not. Since the civil war, we have been managing, saving money is not our problem as long as we are pumping crude oil every day.
So we have run a very strange economy and a strange presidential system in which the local, state, and federal government earn a salary at the end of the month. We are the only country in the world that does that.
“Everywhere else, the government relies on the people to produce taxes, which they use to run the local government, state, and federation.
“But with the way we run Nigeria, the country can go to sleep. At the end of the month, we just go to Abuja, collect money and we come back to spend. We are in trouble, huge financial trouble.
The current price of crude oil is only a mirage. The major oil companies that produce it are no longer investing much in it. Shell is pulling out of Nigeria, and Chevron is now one of the world’s largest investors in alternative fuel. So, in another year or so, where will we find this money that we go to share in Abuja?”
