Governors- we dint contribute to 2014 budget

The Nigeria Governors Forum on Thursday morning (today) said its members were not part of the team  that  drafted  the 2014  budget .

It also said that its members were not happy with the way they were being invited for the National Economic Council meetings   only to be informed in Abuja that they (meetings) had been cancelled.

These were contained in  a  communique issued after the meeting  in Abuja.

The meeting was presided over by the Chairman of the forum and Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi.

The communique reads, “The forum notes that NEC meetings   have been postponed  for five consecutive months.

“It has become embarrassing that governors are invited to Abuja for NEC meetings only to be told of their  cancellation after their arrival  without any tangible reason; yet there are issues of urgent and utmost national importance that ought to have been addressed at such meetings.

“Consequently, we have a 2014 national budget without input from the states resulting in  a lack of sense of ownership of the budget  process

“In furtherance of the issues raised above, the forum reiterates that the Nigerian National  Petroleum Corporation and  the Ministry of Finance are obliged to brief the governors formally on the non-remittance of $49.8bn into the Federation Account.

“In the absence of   NEC meetings, the platform for resolving these issue,s becomes non-existent.”

-punch