The Government of Cross River State under the leadership of Governor Ben Ayade has denied that it has been receiving the sum of five hundred million dollars ($500 million) for the ceding of Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon.
According to a statement signed by Christian Ita, Special Adviser, Media & Publicity to the Governor on Saturday, November 5, 2022, and made available to CONVERSEER, the Government claimed it has been receiving five hundred million naira (₦500 million) monthly, and not $500 million.
The Government was replying to a claim made by A. M. Shehu, Chairman of the Revenue Allocation Mobilization and Fiscal Commission (RAMFAC) on Channels TV’s Sunrise Programme.
A. M. Shehu, Chairman of the Revenue Allocation Mobilization and Fiscal Commission (RAMFAC) says the Federal Government pays Cross River State $500 million monthly as stabilisation fund for the ceding of Bakassi Peninsula since 2022. pic.twitter.com/ApgEoTUddF
— Converseer (@converseernews) November 5, 2022
“The attention of the Cross River State Government has been drawn to a video of the appearance of the Chairman of the Revenue Allocation Mobilization and Fiscal Commission (RAMFAC), Mr A.M. Shehu, on Channels Television’s Sunrise Program wherein he claimed the Federal Government pays $500 million monthly as stabilization fund to the state for the ceding of Bakassi Peninsula and the attendant loss of oil wells.
“We strongly believe the Commission’s chairman misspoke because as a state we are not aware of, and have never received $500 million as a stabilization fund from the Federal Government.
“We are, therefore, calling on the RAMFAC Chairman to correct this faux pas, which has caused the state government considerable embarrassment.
“However, if Mr Shehu was referring to ₦500 million as against the $500 million which he claimed, then there is nothing new about it”, the statement by Ita said.
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The statement added that the state has been receiving the ₦500 million since 2008 and that the Federal Government has been deducting ₦1.6 billion to ₦2 billion from the monthly allocation allotted to the state.
“The said fund has been in existence since 2008, long before the coming to office of Governor Ben Ayade-led administration.
“Meanwhile, is it not ridiculous that while the RAMFAC Chairman was gleefully mentioning $500 million as a monthly stabilization fund to the state, which is not true, he failed to mention that the same Federal Government deducts between 1.6 to 2 billion Naira from Cross River State monthly allocations, thus making nonsense of the said ₦500 million monthly stabilization fund?”, the statement added.
Recall that Nigeria lost Bakassi to Cameroon at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2002 at The Hague and the Green Tree Agreement of 2006. Olusegun Obasanjo and Donald Duke were the President and Governor at that time.
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