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Laide Raheem, Abeokuta
The Ogun State government has declared that the current administration under the leadership of Governor Dapo Abiodun did not receive N37b from the Federal Government, as reimbursement of expenses on road projects carried out by the immediate past administration in the State.
It maintained that the money was processed and received by the immediate past administration as payment for the Ogun state government expenses on FG roads.
Some online news media had erroneously reported that the money was paid to the incumbent administration of Governor Abiodun.
But reacting to the report and clearing the air on the refund, the State Commissioner for Finance and Chief Economic Adviser, Mr. Dapo Okubadejo, in a statement, on Friday, explained that the last payment on the Federal Government road refund programme was made before the current administration came on board, as all efforts to recover further road refunds from the FG have not materialised.
“A total of N37b was paid to the immediate past administration for FG road refund to the state in two tranches of FG Treasury Note instruments of N15bn and N22bn respectively.
“The first Treasury Note of N15b issued in December, 2018 was discounted in January, 2019 for N10b, while the second Treasury Note of N22b was discounted for N17bn during the first quarter of 2019, thereby resulting in total financial charges of about N10bn incurred by the state”, Okubadejo disclosed.
While noting that the explanation was necessary to put the records straight, he advised journalists to always verify their facts before rushing to publish.
Okubadejo further maintained that the incumbent administration is open and transparent, saying “this explains why it has always published its Annual Audited Financial Statements, promptly as required”.
