N30 billion Palliative Claim: Akpabio was ‘prophesying’ – Akwa Ibom governor

Akwa Ibom State governor, Pastor Umo Eno has reacted to claim by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio that N30 billion has been given to each State governor to tackle hunger, saying, Akpabio was prophesying which he believed will come to pass.

Addressing journalists on Saturday, the governor who is of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, said the Federal Government only gave N2 billion to each 36 States, as palliative, which was not a grant, but a loan to be paid back.

After Akpabio’s comment that N30 billion was given to each State governor, tampers began to rise in some States leading to preparation for protest against hunger, but among early governors to counter the assertion was Oyo State governor, Oluseyi Makinde. He debunked claims that the Federal Government gave N30 each to State governors as palliative.

It was recalled that Senator Godwill Akpabio who is a former governor on Wednesday stated that each governor in Nigeria got “additional N30 billion from the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to tackle the food scarcity situation in the country.”
Speaking while presiding over last Tuesday’s plenary, Akpabio knocked State governors, saying that protest held in some major cities in the country against rising hunger and hardship are sponsored by political stakeholders.

He had added that the newly released funds for the state governors are different from their monthly allocation and urged them not to divert the funds for another course different from solving foodstuff scarcity.

On Saturday, Governor Eno said, “We are in a time where people want to be relevant, and they feel that being relevant is to incite the public, tell lies against the government.

“I know no civil society behaves like that. You have to understand how civil society in other climes work and try to balance information.

“The allocation to governments is managed by the state Ministry of Finance. There is a budget and there is always a published account. I would have asked that he wait, let the account be published, then he can ask questions, rather than raise false alarm.”
Speaking further, Governor Eno said that “On the palliative, thank God he was on the palliative committee. The money that the Federal Government gave to me or to the state, and indeed, to all states, was N2 billion, even though the federal government said it was N5 billion. We are yet to receive the balance of N3 billion.

“Even the N2 billion, the federal government has written to us that it has to be refunded. If we refund the money that was generally believed to be funds that was given to the state, it means that it is the state that did the palliative.

“Beyond the N2 billion, we spent over N5 billion, even when you add the salaries that we paid for three months, we spent over that.

“On the one that states have been given N30 billion for palliative, I think it is a prophecy, and I pray the prophecy will come to pass.

“We are in the state and people are there in Abuja. Maybe there is a plan like that. So, I join in praying that it should come. It will help us a lot. But as I stand here today, we have not received more than N2 billion from the federal government on palliative, and we are made to understand that it was a loan.”