The Federal Government and many states may clash over the subsidy re-investment accounts and programmes, investigations have shown.

SATURDAY PUNCH learnt that many states had not opened accounts for the subsidy re-investment fund with the Central Bank of Nigeria.

It was also learnt that the states faulted the move by the FG to monitor how the fund would be spent on the grounds that it negated the principle of federalism.

The Subsidy Re-Investment Programme was conceived by the FG last January when it started the deregulation of the downstream sector.

According to ‘SURE Document,’ the FG planned to spend funds accruable from the fuel subsidy removal on road construction, public transport and water projects.

The FG had directed states and local government councils to come up with their own versions of SURE programmes.

Investigations showed that many states have yet to have their own version of the programme as directed by the FG.

The Minister of State for Finance, Dr. Yerima Ngama, after the Federal Account Allocation Committee meeting in Abuja on May 20, had said that states and LGs had been directed to open SURE accounts with the CBN.  According to him, federal, state and local governments have shared N177bn in the last five months.

He had stated, “The subsidy re-investment fund is supposed to be paid to the states and local governments separately into a special account that they should open and we expect the states and the local governments to also forward to the ministry the programmes that they intend to use the subsidy re-investment fund for in order to improve the condition of our people.

“But every state is free to determine what it wants to do with its subsidy reinvestment fund. It doesn’t have to be what the Federal Government is doing but you can come and complement it in your own state.”

Two weeks after the minister gave the directive, investigations showed that many states had not complied with it.

A source at the Federal Ministry of Finance confided in one of our correspondents that many states were being awaited to open their accounts.

He said, “We are still awaiting many states to open the account. States that fail to open the account will not get the SURE funds.

“Although the minister has said that every state is free to embark on any project, that does not stop the Federal Government from monitoring the expenditure. Many of them will lump the SURE fund with their 2012 budget.”

The Ogun State Commissioner for Finance, Mrs. Nike Adeosun, in an SMS sent to our correspondent, said the state had no SURE account.

She stated, “We have no SURE account. Any saving from subsidy accruing to the Federation Account is shared. Basically, SURE is part of our allocation.”

In Enugu State, a source said the government had yet to open an account for the subsidy reinvestment fund.

When contacted, Governor Sullivan Chime’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Chukwudi Achife, said, “I would not be in the best position to tell if an account for the subsidy fund has been opened. Kindly contact the commissioner for finance.”

However, the finance commissioner, Mr. Godson Nnadi, failed to respond to questions bordering on the SURE fund when our correspondent called and even sent text messages to his cell-phone.

Meanwhile, Achife said the state government intended to spend the SURE fund on its four-point agenda, comprising agriculture, education, health and infrastructure.

But the Ekiti State Government said it had opened the account for the subsidy fund.

The state Commissioner for Information, Mr. Funminiyi Afuye, told our correspondent that the state government opened the account last January.

He said that some funds had been paid into the account, which would be managed on behalf of the people of the state by some eminent indigenes.

Afuye said Chief Bamidele Falegan, a retired official of the CBN, was the chairman of the committee set up by the government to manage proceeds from SURE to impact positively on the lives of the people of the state.

The commissioner said, “The state government set up a committee of notable Ekiti indigenes with a track record of proven integrity to manage the proceeds from the SURE fund.”

Efforts to get the Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Dapo Kolawole, to know the exact amount paid into the account were unsuccessful.

But the proceeds from SURE were not included in the 2012 budget because Governor Kayode Fayemi presented N98.9bn budget to the house of assembly on December 22, 2011 when subsidy had yet to be removed from petrol.

When contacted, the Deputy Director, Press, Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, Mr. Charles Nwodo, declined to give the number of states that had opened the account.

He said, “So many states have responded to the Federal Government’s directive and I can tell you that they are opening the accounts because they are eager to receive their money to enable them to implement their SURE programme.”

The federal and state governments had late last year disagreed over the subsidy fund.

-Punch

The state governments had faulted the deductions made by the FG from the Federation Account for fuel subsidy.

Posted by admin on Jun 2 2012. Filed under State News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry