Federal Govt.: Why We Didn't Release Money To Fayose

The Federal Government has clarify that the January allocation from the Budget Support Facility (BSF) to Ekiti State was suspended because the state failed to comply with the basic requirements for participating in the facility.

Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State had accused the Federal Ministry of Finance of withholding the state’s statutory allocation for January for political reasons.

A statement by the Ministry of Finance signed by the Director of Information, Salisu Dambata, said the BSF is a conditional loan programme to state governments introduced to enhance fiscal prudence, transparency, efficiency in public expenditure and payment of salaries.

The ministry said the Ekiti government failed to comply with the required conditions for the payment, and was not the first state to be denied the funds on such grounds.

It denied the claim that the ministry of finance withheld any statutory allocation due to Ekiti State, or any other state in the country.

“This is not the first time of non-compliance by the Ekiti State Government,” the statement read.

“His administration defaulted in meeting the conditions specified and agreed upon by the 35 state governments that are participating in the programme as contained in the Fiscal Sustainability Plan (FSP) and the Ekiti State Government was warned formally of its failure to comply with the full requirements vide a letter on August 5, 2016, with reference number HMF/FMF/ASG/1/2016.

“The failure of Ekiti State Government to comply with the requirements and conditions for the Budget Support Facility (BSF) resulted in a letter sent to the chief of staff to notify him of the suspension of BSF for Ekiti State and it was conveyed to Mr. President before payment to the Ekiti State Government was reinstated.

“The Ekiti State Government and all the other participating states are aware of the consequence of failure to comply with the full conditions and it is not the first time that a state would be stopped from accessing the facility due to non-compliance.