Governors of the 36 states of the federation have refuted media reports suggesting that the first tranche of the Paris and London Clubs’ refunds to states has been diverted into some private pockets.
The governors under their umbrella body, Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) described the reports alleging diversion of the funds as not only unfounded, but also a kind of fiction which exists only in the figment of the writers’ imagination.
Specifically, the governors’ stressed that nothing illegal has been committed in the entire process leading to the final disbursement to states of the first tranche of the Paris and London Clubs repayment of the excess deductions from states’ coffers and the refund of their loans.
“The Nigeria Governors’ Forum read with utter disgust reports making the rounds in the print, electronic and social media that monies accruing to states from the Paris and London Clubs refunds have found their way into private pockets”, a statement issued yesterday by the Head of Media and Public Affairs of the forum, Abdulrazaque Bello-Barkindo noted.
Apart from stating that the said reports are unfounded and are only a figment of the imagination of the writers, the NGF also stated categorically stated that the entire process leading to the final disbursement to states of the first tranche Paris-London Clubs repayment of the excess deductions from states’ coffers and the refund of their loans was transparently done.
“Following the barrage of innuendoes, untruths and outright falsehoods that have pervaded the media, the Nigeria Governors’ Forum deems it imperative to shed light on the transactions that followed and put the records straight”, the statement made available to LEADERSHIP noted.
The NGF explained that, while the Paris London Clubs loan refund had been on the cards since 2005, successive state governors had tried to get reimbursement for the excess deductions from their states in the past but did not succeed.