Senate President Godswill Akpabio has retracted his statement that the Federal Government gave state governors N30 billion each to address food crisis in their various states.
Akpabio’s statement made last week raised questions among the populace as to how efficiently the governors planned to utilise the funds.
However, Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde countered, saying Akpabio’s statement was erroneous. Makinde, a member of the opposition PDP, said that as a stakeholder and vice-chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, he could not keep quiet in the face of such falsehood.
In a press release on Monday by his spokesman Eseme Eyiboh, Akpabio took back his statement and urged the governors “not to be distracted by any misunderstanding of the context and true meaning of the statement.”
The statement reads, “The office of the President of the Senate has been drawn to various misconceptions in the public domain on the statement credited to the President of the Senate in plenary of Wednesday, February 21, 2024, during the presentation of a report of the joint Committees on Finance, Agriculture/Food Sufficiency, Banking and Insurance. During the session the President of the Senate commented on the payment of an unverified cumulative sum of about N30b to the sub-national governments by the Federal Government for various interventions to ameliorate the food situation of our citizens at the sub-national governments.
“The unfortunate conjectures to take away the kernel in the material facts of FAAC payment are rather regretted. In considering the well-intended motive of urging state governments to collaborate with the Federal Government of President Bola Tinubu to facilitate strategic interventions to mitigate the prevailing economic situation in the country remains the underpinning motivation in the comment.
“The President of the Senate is not oblivious to the fact that state governments are functional partners in all the efforts of the current administration of President Bola Tinubu and are also valuable stakeholders’ in the various legislative engagements of the legislature in creating the nexus between the legislature and the people. The President of the Senate has always demonstrated commitment to team building and shall not do less in the circumstance. He therefore urges the sub-national governments not to be distracted by any misunderstanding of the context and true meaning of the statement. The President of the Senate recognizes and appreciates the current efforts of the governors at ameliorating the adverse effects of the current inclement socio-economic environment and therefore invites more hands on the plow to complement the renewed hope agenda.”
