A former Military Governor, Colonel Abubakar Dangiwa Umar (retd), has told the Federal Government to stop the disbursement of the refund of the excess Paris Club loan to states.
The Federal Government is planning to release another $4 billion to the states.
The directive was given by President Muhammadu Buhari last week Thursday during the National Economic Council meeting.
Buhari, who is not a member of the NEC but just looked in to thank the Governors for their support, directed the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, and the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, to begin the immediate disbursement of the fund.
But Umar, in a statement on Thursday, advised against further disbursement of the fund.
He said apart from some governors having engaged consultants who they paid between 10 per cent and 30 per cent of the initially released funds, some have outrightly diverted what they received to other purposes that paying salaries and pensions as directed by the Federal Government.
He said: “It is now revealed that some state governors contracted consultants with fees ranging from 10 to 30 per cent to secure refund from the Federal Government of Nigeria.
“With this shocking revelation, President Muhammadu Buhari should suspend his order to the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Nigeria for the release of the second tranche of the refund.
“It is also evident now that most of the earlier released funds were deployed for other purposes than payment of salaries and pension arrears as directed by Mr. President.
“This impunity has got to stop.”
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