Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State has said that Senate President, Godswill Akpabio’s claim that the federal government has given the 36 states of the federation N30billion for palliative to cushion the hardship in the country is a prophecy that he prays will come to pass.
Governor Eno, who said while addressing journalists on Saturday said that the federal government only gave state governments N2billion for palliative, and in turn, wrote to state governments that the N2billion was a loan and should be refunded.
Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, on thursday, countered Akpabio’s claim, saying that the federal government did not give N30 billion to the state government as claimed by the federal lawmaker.
Senator Akpabio had on Wednesday, said that all the 36 state governors in the state received additional N30 billion from the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to tackle the food scarcity situation in the country.
The Senate President who had said this during one of the plenary sessions of the federal lawmakers described the several protests held in some major cities in the country against rising hunger and hardship as sponsored by political stakeholders.
He had added that the newly released funds for the state governors are different from their monthly allocation and urged them not to divert the funds for another course different from solving foodstuff scarcity.
On Saturday, Governor Eno said, “We are in a time where people want to be relevant, and they feel that being relevant is to incite the public, tell lies against the government.
“I know no civil society behaves like that. You have to understand how civil society in other climes work and try to balance information.
“The allocation to governments is managed by the state Ministry of Finance. There is a budget and there is always a published account. I would have asked that he wait, let the account be published, then he can ask questions, rather than raise false alarm.”
Speaking further, Governor Eno said that “On the palliative, thank God he was on the palliative committee. The money that the Federal Government gave to me or to the state, and indeed, to all states, was N2 billion, even though the federal government said it was N5 billion. We are yet to receive the balance of N3 billion.
“Even the N2 billion, the federal government has written to us that it has to be refunded. If we refund the money that was generally believed to be funds that was given to the state, it means that it is the state that did the palliative.
“Beyond the N2 billion, we spent over N5 billion, even when you add the salaries that we paid for three months, we spent over that.
“On the one that states have been given N30 billion for palliative, I think it is a prophecy, and I pray the prophecy will come to pass.
“We are in the state and people are there in Abuja. Maybe there is a plan like that. So, I join in praying that it should come. It will help us a lot. But as I stand here today, we have not received more than N2 billion from the federal government on palliative, and we are made to understand that it was a loan.”