By Odo Ogenyi, Uyo
Akwa state government has described as political, allegations by the opposition that it lied about the amount received as arrears of 13% derivation since 2021.
It has also said that it has received N186b within the same period and not the amount alleged by the governorship candidate of the Young Progressive Party, YPP, and former state finance commissioner, Senator Bassey Akpan.
State finance commissioner Mr Linus Nkang told a press conference in Uyo yesterday that contrary to those allegations, the state has so far received N186b as arrears since 2021 in seven tranches.
“In 2021, the sum of N160,000,000,000 was remitted to the state account. In 2022, the projected income from this source was 41,434,000,000, but as at Q3, the sum of 26,000,000,000 has been received.
“The report of judicious application of this income and other incomes to the state are captured in the statutory Accountant General’s audited report for 2021 and same will be reflected this year.
“There is therefore no reasonable cause for the activation of alarmist tendencies on the state of finances of the state, because the Governor is conscious of the judgement of history and posterity and is doing everything to earn a copious mention on its golden pages.
“We therefore urge the entire public to ignore the various figures bandied around on various media platforms, as those are nothing more than fiction. With the implementation of the International Public Sector Accounting System (IPSAS), it is impossible for any unaccounted expenditure to occur.
“It is also worthy to point out that the state’s budgets and annual reports must first be reviewed by the World Bank and it is practically impossible that financial infractions can skip their attention.” Nkan explained.
The state, the commissioner pointed out has variously been commended for it’s transperancy and judicious use of funds by critical stakeholders in the finance sector.
“This is the reason why knowledgeable stakeholders in the national public finance space have greatly commended the Government of our state under Governor Udom Emmanuel for deepening financial transparency in the financial administration of the state .
“The latest of such commendation came recently from the Consul General of the United States, who not only commended the government but committed to increased partnership with the state in this respect.
“It is the avowed commitment of this administration, under the capable leadership of Governor Udom Emmanuel, to ensure judicious and justifiable application of scarce resource to provide for the innumerable needs of the great people of our state.” He concluded.
