State finance commissioners walkout on finance minister at FAAC meeting

Minister of state for Finance Yerima Ngama

The commissioners said FAAC resolutions were not being implemented.

State commissioners of Finance in Abuja on Thursday staged a walk out on the Minister of State for Finance, Yerima Ngama, over unresolved differences in revenue sharing.

The Chairman of the State Commissioners of Finance Forum, Timothy Udah, told journalists that the walkout at the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting was a unanimous decision.

“We are aggrieved over the non- implementation of decisions and resolutions taken at FAAC plenary sessions in the past.

“The most recent was the one held in May, 2013, which by all implication still remained inconclusive.

“As the arrears of February remains unpaid, we are yet to be briefed and no clue is given.

“The augmentation as at last month passed by the resolution is not paid and no clue to the payable period,” Mr. Udah said.

He said that the commissioners had taken lots of disappointment from the administration of FAAC by the finance ministry.

“The states and the local governments we are representing have been bearing with the situations, the contractors have to be paid and welfare of workers too.

“We defer to the president with every respect that he and the governors should hear what is happening which we have been hiding,” he said.

Mr. Udah said that the message would also be taken to the governors and other entities of the federation to meet with the president to find the best way to resolve the problem.

Meanwhile, the minister’s spokesman, Mohammed Nakorji, said his boss would not want to react to the walkout by the commissioners.



-- Premium Times