Edo Lost N10b In Federal Revenue Under Jonathan – Oshiomhole

Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has said the state lost about N10 billion over four years because of unshared proceeds from the Federation Account during the Goodluck Jonathan administration. The governor made the claim on Friday when he spoke to State House correspondents after he met behind closed-doors with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Oshiomhole, who emerged from the meeting with former governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, said the loss suffered by Edo and other states was because the Jonathan government did not share all federal revenues, as required by the law. He gave the example of the $1.7 billion remitted last month by the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) firm as taxes, which was only shared for the first time to the three tiers of government. Oshiomhole explained that if the remittance had been done under the Jonathan administration, with Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as the Finance Minister, the money would not have got to the states. He concluded that Edo State alone, which he described as one of the least federal revenue earners, would have received up to N10 billion in the last four years, if NLNG taxes were shared out to states. Oshiomhole, former president of the Nigeria Labour Congress, also pointed out that the Nigerian worker, especially in the public sector, remains grossly underpaid, hence the demand for wage increase by labour unions. He, however, explained the need for all tiers of government to vigorously fight the scourge of ‘ghost workers’ using every means, including modern technology, so as to cut down on financial leakages in government payroll.