President Muhammadu Buhari has accused the National Assembly of increasing the debt owed the states by the Federal Government.
The amount involved, he said, was N890,537,630,03.
The claim is contained in a letter to the National Assembly by the president and read at plenary on Tuesday by Senate President, Bukola Saraki.
He said while the Federal Executive Council, FEC, approved the sum of N487,842,888,574.74, the National Assembly approved N488,743,526,204.77.
The letter reads: “You may wish to refer to the letter from the National Assembly REF:NASS/CNA/106/Vol.10/277 dated 27th of July 2018 which communicated the approval by the National Assembly of the promissory note programme and a bond issuance to settle inherited local debts and contractual obligations on refund to state governments on projects executed on behalf of the federal government in the sum of N488,743,526,204.77.
“The Senate may wish to know that in view of the approval by the National Assembly, the following were observed:
“While the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the total of N487,842,888,574.74 only, as reimbursement to the state governments, the National Assembly approved N488,743,526,204.77, implying that the amount approved by the National Assembly was N890,537,630,03 higher than the amount approved by FEC.
“While FEC approved reimbursement to 25 states, National Assembly approved reimbursement to 21 states.
“National Assembly did not approve any reimbursement for four states; Bauchi, Delta, Kogi and Taraba whereas the FEC had approved reimbursement for them…
“Furthermore, I wish to request for review of the reimbursement earlier submitted in favour of Bauchi, Delta, Kogi and Taraba Sates. Meanwhile, the federal government shall proceed with the implementation on the following basis: Where the amount approved by the National Assembly is the same as the amount approved by FEC, the jointly approved amount will be reimbursed.
“The states are Adamawa, Jigawa, Kano and Niger. Where the amount approved by the National Assembly is higher than the amount approved by FEC, the amount approved by FEC will be reimbursed.
“The states are Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Ebonyi, Benue, Edo, Ekiti, Enugu, Gombe, Imo, Kwara, Lagos, Ondo, Ogun, Osun, Oyo, Plateau and Zamfara and where no amount is approved by National Assembly, no reimbursement will be made. The affected states are Bauchi, Delta, Kogi and Taraba.”
