Lagos
State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN) Monday addressed the state
House of Assembly, lamenting the decline in monthly allocations due to
the state from the Federation Accounts.
He was accompanied
by the Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Mr. Ben Akabueze,
his finance counterpart, Mr. Ayo Gbeleyi and Commissioner for Special
Duties, Wale Ahmed, among others.
The
governor, who addressed the lawmakers during plenary, explained that the
National Economic Council meeting which ought to be on a monthly basis
has not been held for six months.
According to him, in almost
14 years of our democratic experience, the first time that commissioners
for finance walked out of Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC)
in Abuja was in 2011.”
He, thus, recalled that there was
similar occurrence of commissioner of finance walking out during
Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) in 2013, noting that the
account “will not be settled. The pattern has continued especially in
the second half last year through January. The only bleep of stability
was in February.”
The governor stressed on the decline in
revenue, explaining that some states “have resorted to borrowing in an
attempt to keep government running unhindered. Some factors responsible
for the decline include uncoordinated and discretionary application of
the federal government on waiver and fiscal policy as well as decline on
oil production, pipeline vandalism and oil theft.
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