On Wednesday, the Federal Executive Council (FEC), approved a sum of N18bn for Yobe state government out of the FG reimbursement fund for the completion of five major federal roads.
The reimbursement fund was set at N477bn and has been shared amongst states in the countries as the first tranche of reimbursement to many states.
Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed disclosed this while speaking to journalists in Abuja. Muhammed said out of the N477bn disbursed, Edo got N30bn, Lagos N106bn, Niger N333m, Ogun N37bn, Delta N56bn, Ebonyi N10bn, Enugu N12bn, Jigawa N10bn, and Ekiti N10bn.
“The last memo by the honourable minister of works and housing is memo seeking council’s approval for the reimbursement of the funds that were certified recommended for a refund for the Yobe State government.
Muhammed said when the current administration came in, many states requested that under the previous administration, they undertook the construction of roads and bridges, which were supposed to be federal government roads and bridges, and they actually asked the federal government to reimburse them. Adding that federal government set up an inter-ministerial committee made up of ministries of works and housing, transport, education, and the like. And they came up with recommendations.
“I think it’s important to say that, well, it is true that we are just reporting this particular memo, which is a refund being sought by Yobe government. The Yobe government is asking for the sum of N18,663,843,009 as reimbursement for five federal roads, which they rehabilitated or constructed, after which a committee was set up to inspect the claim and were actually found to be true. They were reviewed, and then out of the N20bn they asked for, they certified N18 billion as a refund due to Yobe state,” the minister added.
Lai Muhammed added that the second tranche were the last trench and I think if I remember, I think Yobe and two other states were supposed to be in the next batch. We have Yobe, which was gotten to today, N18 billion for works they undertook on behalf of the federal government.
The FEC meeting was presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.
