The Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole, has said the state lost about N10 billion under the administration of Goodluck Jonathan in four years.
This is even as he has said no worker is owed salary in the state.
Oshiomhole while fielding questions from State House correspondents after he and former governor of Rivers State, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, met behind closed-doors with President Muhammadu Buhari, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said the sum was an estimate of what could have accrued to his state if the past administration had been faithful in remitting taxes paid by the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Company (NLNG) and Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria into the Consolidated Federation Account the same way the present administration did.
He claimed that if the $1.6 billion NLNG tax used as bailout for states had come during the Jonathan administration, it would have gone the same way it has been going without states benefitting.
He reiterated that contrary to media reports, the bail out given to states did not come from the Excess Crude Account (ECA), but from the NLNG, which has for the first time in a long while started remitting revenue to the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
Speaking on the bail out to states, the Edo State governor said, “We have always been happy with the President because he has been very clear from day one on his campaign promises to putting an end to impunity and flagrant disobedient of law and order. And he has promised transparency and order. So it is not just about the bail out but it is completely a new approach that anybody who is a stakeholder in the matters involving the funds of the federation that we all can see through everything.
“For example the noise that has been generated over what happened last week, there was nothing extraordinary. What was extraordinary is that the NLNG has over the years been remitting funds to the Federal Government. But the Federal Government illegally refused to transfer these funds to the consolidated revenue fund which belongs to the three tiers of government.”
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