Okonjo-Iweala Replies Oshiomhole Says Governors Who Cannot Pay Salaries Have No Excuses

Minister of for Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has dismissed Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole’s accusation that under Okonjo-Iweala the finances of the country have not been well-managed.

According to a statement issued and signed on Thursday, by the Special Adviser to the Minister, Paul C Nwabuikwu, Okonjo-Iweala described the accusation as “Baseless Diatribe”, saying rather that, “several of their [Governor Oshiomhole’s] colleagues have been able to manage their finances reasonably well under these same difficult circumstances,” thereby suggesting that “governors who cannot pay salaries have no excuses”.

Iweala said; “The release of the Excess Crude Account (ECA) details has also demonstrated very clearly that there is no substance in the wild allegations that any money is missing from the account or that finances of the country under Okonjo-Iweala watch have not been well-managed.

“Like previous baseless allegations by some Governors, the motive behind Oshiomhole’s attack is clear: to deflect public attention away from the manner in which they have run the finances of their states and make Okonjo-Iweala the scapegoat. If it was meant to intimidate the Minister, it has failed abysmally.”

According to the Minister, she said she how Governor Oshiomhole can claim that state governors were not properly briefed on the status of the ECA when their commissioner of finance attends all the FAAC meetings where decisions are taken and communicated to the nation.

The Minister added further; “This diversionary tactic will not succeed because Nigerians are too smart to buy into this fiction. Secondly, the Finance Ministry under Okonjo-Iweala, the Minister who started the practice of publishing details of allocations from the Federation Account to all the three tiers of government, has regularly furnished Nigerians with information on the country’s finances.

“Governor Oshiomhole’s statement that Okonjo-Iweala “must disclose to the nation the full details of subsidy payments made to oil marketers in the last four years” is therefore astonishing given the fact that EVERY payment made to the marketers has been published in the media and widely disseminated through all news channels