NEC refutes Obaseki’s claim, says no money was printed to support March allocation

The National Economic Council (NEC) says the federal government did not print money to support allocation to states in March.

Laolu Akande, spokesman to Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, in a statement, said the council affirmed this position at its meeting on Thursday.

Godwin Obaseki, Edo state governor, had raised allegation that the federal government printed N60 billion in March to support allocation for states.

The governor had insisted that Nigeria is in deep financial trouble, despite rebuttals from the ministry of finance and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

According to the statement, NEC received presentations from Zainab Ahmed, minister of finance, and Kayode Fayemi, chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), during the meeting.

The council affirmed that “there was no printing of N60 billion or any other amount whatsoever to shore up allocation for the month of March.”

The statement said both Ahmed and Godwin Emefiele, CBN governor, informed the council that “the allegation of the printing of money to augment allocation was out rightly false.”

On the issue of security, the spokesman said the council unanimously affirmed the unity of Nigeria and said it would adopt the report of the national townhall meeting on national unity and security held recently in Kaduna.

He said the council welcomed the outcome of the townhall meeting, while urging states to hold wider consultations across the country and report back to NEC the outcome of the meetings.

Akande added that a national consensus would be reached on the recommendations including the adoption of state police, among other matters.

Present at the NEC meeting presided over by Osinbajo were state governors and ministers of FCT, finance, transport, information, aviation, water resources, and state for budget and national planning.