Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, has retracted his claim that each state governor was given Thirty Billion Naira (N30,000,000,000.00) by the federal government to help mitigate the effect of inflation in food prices ravaging Nigerians.
Akpabio’s apology was made to Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara State-led Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) over the statement.
The apology came after Akpabio held a meeting with the NGF Chairman and some of his counterparts in Abuja on Monday.
Recall that Akpabio had, at a plenary sitting last Tuesday, said an “unverified report” showed that state governors received N30bn each from the Federation Account to cushion the effect of inflation and the high cost of food prices.
The statement was greeted with controversies in the public space, with some commentators asking governors to come clean about the money they did not collect.
However, on Monday, Akpabio in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Eseme Eyiboh, retracted the statement, saying the Senate President holds the governors in high esteem.
Eyiboh stated: “During the session, the President of the Senate commented on the payment of an unverified cumulative sum of about N30bn 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.
