Obaseki wonders where the Federal Government would find money to share in Abuja when Shell is pulling out of Nigeria and Chevron investing in alternative fuel.
Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State has decried the state of Nigeria’s economy, saying the Federal Government had to print N60bn in March to support federal allocation to states.
The governor expressed worry on the rising debts of the country, saying Nigeria is in ‘huge financial trouble.’
When we got FAAC for March, the federal government printed additional N50-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 are going to be within N15-N16 trillion”, he said.
The governor, who condemned the country’s over-dependence on crude oil lamented that Nigeria’s economy has changed, adding that the current price of crude oil is only a mirage.
Oaseki said, “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, saying money is not our problem as long as we are pumping crude oil everyday.
“So we have run a very strange economy and strange presidential system where the local, state and federal governments, at the end of the month, go and earn salaries. We are the only country in the world that does that.
“Everywhere else, the government relies on the people to produce taxes and that is what they use to run the local government, state and the 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 who are the ones producing are no longer investing much in oil.
The governor wondered where the Federal Government would find money to share in Abuja when Shell is pulling out of Nigeria and Chevron investing in alternative fuel.