Governors throw weight behind fuel price increase

– Governors under the aegis of the Nigeria Governors Forum threw their weight behind the increase in the price of fuel from N86 to N145

– Governor Ibikunle Amosun expressed assurance that the deregulation policy of the federal government might come to pay-off on the long run

– Meanwhile, the state governors are exploring means of accessing $4.25billion grants in the coffers of the World Bank

– The governors had a meeting with Rachid Benmessaoud, the country director of World Bank, who briefed them on the money lying down in the World Bank, which largely belongs to state governments, but has not been accessed

While the Nigeria Labour Congress is demanding the federal government to review the pump price of petrol, governors under the aegis of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) have thrown their weight behind the recent increase in the price of fuel from N86 to N145.

Leadership reports that the state governors also backed the full deregulation of the downstream oil sector.

Speaking with journalists on Wednesday, May 18, Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun state expressed assurance that the deregulation policy might come to pay-off on the long run.

“These are sacrifices that must be paid by all, the president means well, the government means well, all of us means well and if truly we are caring for the masses, we believe that subsidy only serve the rich, those that are getting us the fuel, not the masses.

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“We believe that such money that have been saved from the subsidy would be used for infrastructural development particularly for social services for all of the down- trodden masses.

“We are putting our weight behind it, while urging the federal government and in deed the state governments to see how we can ameliorate all the problems the masses would probably go through in the short run because on the long run they would be the better for it. We supported it because we believe that it is in the interest of the masses,” he said.

Meanwhile, owing to growing constraints in meeting salary payments, the governors are exploring means of accessing $4.25billion grants in the coffers of the World Bank.

Abdul Aziz Yari, the chairman of the NFG, revealed that the governors had a meeting with Rachid Benmessaoud, the country director of World Bank, who briefed the forum on the money lying down in the World Bank, which largely belongs to state governments, but has not been accessed.

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“Because of the cumbersome procedure in accessing these funds, most of the governors did not even know they had such funds there.”

“It was the initiative of the governor of Kaduna state that the Bank should come and make this presentation, so that they can educate us to know that these monies are there for us to access, especially with this kind of precarious situation we are in.”

“The presentation from the World Bank gave us opportunity to agree on terms, the governors made their own contributions, especially on the issue of counterpart funding which the World Bank accepted they are going to look into. Also they agreed that they will give us the details of state by state, how much is lying down for each state and how we are going to access it,” he said.

In his speech, Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna state noted that the funds would aid infrastructural development, especially in areas of health, education, rural access, agriculture, among others.

“The world bank portfolio for the state for this year is $4.25billion dollars and out of that $3.25billion dollars is lying there undisbursed which means the states are not meeting their conditions or not moving fast enough to draw this $3.25billion dollars.

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“You know $3.25billion dollars can do a lot to improve the lives and livelihood of our citizens in the state and the World Bank has expressed its flexibility to look into the challenges we are facing as well as the procedure or bottleneck to ease the access of these monies.

“The World Bank wants us to withdraw this money as quickly as possible so that our citizens will get the benefits from health to education and the rural access, agriculture and the revival of livestock and water supply,” he said.

El-Rufai, who has vowed to curb corruption in Kaduna state, has asked political leaders not to see the government as their last resort as his government does not have the money to squander on them.

Speaking during the inauguration of the boards of five parastatals in the state, the governor asked the new entrants to ensure they align themselves with the goals of his administration.

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