Consultant sues 36 state governors, FG over payment- PARIS CLUB REFUND

Further withdrawals from the Paris Club refund by
the states government has been stalled as a
consultant has dragged the 36 state governors
and the Federal Government to court.
A highly placed source at the Presidency, told
NAN on Friday night that the consultant in
question is suing the state governors for reneging
on the payment of the five per cent consultancy
fees due to him for services rendered in relation to
the sharing of the fund.
According to the source, state governors may not
be able to pay their workers from the Paris Club
refund before Christmas as they had originally
planned.
The source said that the case has been filed at
the Federal High Court Abuja.
The source said before this new court case,
efforts were in top gear to release the balance of
the Paris Club refunds to states to pay workers
salaries all over the country before Christmas.
“The payment of the Paris Club refunds is at the
final stages. It will be paid to enable the workers
enjoy the Christmas and New Year festive
seasons,” the source said.
Meanwhile, the Federation Account Allocation
Committee (FAAC) meeting scheduled for Friday
was put off till Saturday because stakeholders
had not received the component statement from
NNPC.
One of the state Commissioners for Finance, who
pleaded anonymity, told NAN that for the second
time, the NNPC was late in remitting funds into
the Federation Account.
“NNPC is the major cause of all these things. It
has not brought in money just like last month.
“Last month, the state governors insisted that the
NNPC must bring in money before it later brought
out N30 billion from Excess Crude Account (ECA)
before the last FAAC could hold.
”Again this month, the CBN and Revenue
Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission
(RMAFC) said they have not received component
statement from NNPC.
”’This indicates that NNPC had not paid money
into the Federation Account. Without that money
we have to wait till tomorrow for FAAC meeting to
hold.
“If the component statement is sent from NNPC,
it will take about six hours before the
stakeholders can go through it” the commissioner
said.
President Muhammadu Buhari last month urged
all state governors to utilise the balance of 50 per
cent Paris Club refund to settle unpaid salaries
owed workers before Christmas.
To remove any hitches, he directed the CBN,
Ministry of Finance, and the Budget Office of the
Federation to work out how the outstanding fund
would be paid before 2017 ends.
The payment began in December 2016 with the
release of about N522.74 billion to all 36 states
in the first tranche of the Paris Club refund.
The federal government later in July 2017,
released N243.8 billion as second tranche.
The funds were released following protests by
states against over deductions for external debt
service between 1995 and 2002. (NAN)