‘We only received N2.1bn as refund of 13% derivation fund,’ Edo govt replies Wike

The Edo State government said on Wednesday it received N2.1 billion from the 13 percent derivation fund paid by the Federal Government to oil-producing states.

The state’s Commissioner for Finance, Budget, and Economic Planning, Joseph Eboigbe, stated this in a chat with journalists in Benin City.

He was reacting to a statement credited to the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, on the 13 percent derivation fund received by the oil-producing states from the federal government.

Wike, who spoke during the inauguration of the Nabo Graham Douglas campus of the Nigerian Law School in Rumueme, Port Harcourt, on November 19, commended President Muhammadu Buhari for approving the payment of the funds owed to states in the Niger Delta since 1999.

The governor, who said the funds had been used to execute projects in the state, said Edo State received N28 billion as its share of the derivation fund.

However, Eboigbe described the Rivers State governor’s statement as false.

He said N28 billion was approved for Edo which would be paid over a period of five years, adding that only three tranches of N700 million totalling N2.1 billion had so far been received by the state.

The commissioner said: “A total of about N1 trillion was established and refunded to the oil-producing states.

“It went through the process of the economic council and a distribution method was adopted from the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC).

“They now established what will go to each state, Edo state’s share of that figure was N28 billion.

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“What was also approved was the way and manner the money will be distributed to the states. The net amount will come to each state over a period of five years.

“Each year, you will have quarterly remittance. The releases started in October, and we have only received three tranches of N700 million which amounted to N2.1 billion and this is what we have received.

“This is verifiable in our bank accounts. So, we have received only three quarterly releases so far. This is what has come into the state coffers.

“It is less than our monthly internally generated revenue which is N3 billion monthly.”

The state’s Commissioner for Information, Chris Nehikhare, who also spoke on the matter, said the state government had judiciously used all its resources.

He said that Edo was the only state in the country paying N40,000 minimum wage to workers, adding that monies were being spent on the construction of roads, schools, hospitals, and reconstruction of the state secretariat complex among others.

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