Edo lost N10bn under Jonathan in 4 years – Oshiomhole

The Governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole, has said the state lost about N10 billion in four years under the administration of Goodluck Jonathan.

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 inside 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.
Oshiomhole said that if the $1.6 billion NLNG tax that 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.

“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 fragrant 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 all the noise that have been generated over what happened last week, there was nothing extraordinary. What was extraordinary is that the NLNG has over the years been remmitting funds to the federal government. But the federal government illegally refused to transfer these fund to the consolidated revenue fund which belongs to the three tiers of government.

“All that President Buhari has done is to in line with his commitments to ensuring that all funds and monies accruing to the federation account are so remitted, that he has directed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to transfer the funds to the consolidated funds. And our commissioners along with federal officials met last week to share those funds in line with the revenue allocation formula. If this money had come under the last president, it will have gone the same way as in previous years.

“The NLNG is not starting fresh to remit. It has been doing that every year plus taxes paid by I think Shell amounting to about $500 million added to the amount of $1.6 billion from NLNG that total to the amount of $2.1 billion. And that was the money that was shared. That was why the correction was made when a section of the media reported that we have collected money from Excess Crude Account. No money was taken from Excess Crude Account. I think that was what is refreshingly new.

“Now imagine if what Edo state got from this renewed transparency and total compliance to the spirit and letter of the constitution in section 80. If what we got last week courtesy of this renewed commitment to transparency, if we had gotten this these past four years consecutively, we would have made about N10 billion. So by the same token Edo State government had lost N10 billion under President Goodluck Jonathan and under Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

“And this is the point we have been making when analysts just talk about states, states, they do not really probe the specifics and because the federal voice is always louder and people make assumptions that certain people are not likely to do certain things, the truth is that so much was not paid to the federation account and that explains the huge gap. That was why in some of my statements, I said it is not just question of drop in oil price but it is also the denial of a lot of revenue that ought to have accrued into the federation account. So no state has gotten a dine from what we called bail out or Excess Crude Account,” he said.
On Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) by states, Oshiomhole stressed that states without strong private sector presence will always lack behind in terms of generating their own funds.

According to him, “I think these issues vary. For clarity, Edo State government is not indebted to any worker. We are up to date in our salary obligations. We are up to date in our allowances. I believe that some states have made a lot of progress in the area of internally generated revenue. But also some states are better placed to make more money or raise more money from internally generated revenue.

“For example if you have the luck of number of industries being located in your state, now the mere fact of those location of those businesses means that you have people and organizations that are taxable. Now if you are in a state where the private sector is completely absent, no matter how hard you look inward, you are not likely to find much. So we have to appreciate sometimes when people make this and that state should look inward”.

On if he was ‎in support of the call for minimum wage increase, the Edo Governor said, “Let me be very clear, I believe the Nigerian worker is under paid. Paricularly in the public sector. If you look at the wage trend now, you will find that what graduate earns at levell 8 step 2 in the public service, if the same young man is to get a job in an oil company or some subsection of the public section, his pay will be much more. If a worker is confronted with endless rise in costs of living and his wages are stagnant, obviously whether you know it or not, he is already experiencing pressures on his living standard.

“If you look at the minimum wage when it was fixed, the exchange rate was about N140 to a dollar, so N18,000 is about $130 a month. Now at N200 per dollar, N18,000 is about $90 and so you can see the only beneficiary in this kind of inflationary environment are those who have fixed assets like building. Because the more your naira is devalued, the higher the nominal value of your assets”.