A group that focuses on promoting fiscal and ecological justice in the Niger Delta, Policy Alert, has asked the Akwa Ibom State Government to provide details of the N171.2 billion and N12.18 billion it received as exceptional income during the third and fourth quarter of 2021 respectively which cumulated to N184.05 billion.
This came on the heels of Gov Udom Emmanuel’s statement during a live radio interaction, tagged the “governor speaks” where he denied receiving payments from the Federal Government in 2021 as refunds of 13 per cent derivation.
The organisation’s Executive Director, Tijah Bolton-Akpan, made the query in a statement sent by the media contact, Nneka Luke-Ndumere, following Governor Udom Emmanuel’s comment.
The governor in response to a question during the live interview said, “From 2018, there has not been any further refund from the Federal Government. I don’t know if people are counting the court judgment on the 13 percent derivation arrears which have not yet been implemented. Even then, people need to ask how much we were earning as 13 percent derivation as of then. When the issue was brought to the Federal Executive Council, they said they will pay it in five years.”
It could be recalled that on November 1, 2021, Policy Alert had issued a statement that the Akwa Ibom State Government had received N171.2 billion as 13 percent derivation arrears during the third quarter of the year, linking the payment to a series of court judgments in favour of four Niger Delta states on arrears of derivation payments from Production Sharing Contracts.
However, the organisation’s director said the denial by the governor is misleading and surprising as financial documents published by the state government confirmed the payments as stated.
Buttressing his points, he said the 2021 third-quarter budget appraisal report published by the state government clearly indicates that the state received N171.2 billion under other exceptional income: 13 percent derivation revenue arrears adding that in the fourth quarter, the state received another N12.81 billion refund as derivation arrears, bringing exceptional income received under this heading in 2021 to a total of N184.05 billion.
He further noted that it was the payments that made the state government revise its expected revenue on the budget item from N61.10 billion to N193 billion in September 2021.
He said, “It is therefore not just curious but potentially misleading to publicly deny that the state has received these funds despite documentary evidence to the contrary. This is indeed a red flag and suggests that something is amiss. Fiscal openness goes beyond publishing what we spend public funds on. We must also be transparent and accountable on the sources of these funds. It is expedient for the State Government to come clean on the true source of the N184.05 billion exceptional income in 2021 if it is not derivation refunds as captured in the state’s fiscal documents.”
He called on accountability institutions especially the Office of the Auditor-General and the State House of Assembly to further investigate the issue.
