The
Nigeria Governors’ Forum is divided over the setting up of the
Sovereign Wealth Fund by the Federal Government, investigations have
revealed.
Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal on May 11 in Ethiopia, said the fund would begin operation in the next few months.
The minister spoke in spite of a case at Supreme
Court, where the state governments were challenging the legality of the
Excess Crude Account and the central government’s transfer of $1bn from
the account to the SWF.
Sources said the take-off of the SWF was being threatened by the hard stance of states governed by opposition parties.
A source said, “There is a serious problem now as
regards the Sovereign Wealth Fund because the state governors have come
out to reject it. So as it is now, we don’t know what the next step will
be for the Federal Government.
“Already, the take -off of the fund has been
politicised and some of the governors especially the ones from ACN
(Action Congress of Nigeria) are vehemently kicking against it. I know
for a fact that a recruitment process for the management of the fund has
been concluded but I don’t know what the specific next step for the
take-off of the fund is.
“The position of the governors is that the law
setting up the SWF is inferior to the constitution and based on this,
their argument is that all money accruing the to federation must be
shared.”
Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola, an ACN governor,
who spoke through the Commissioner for Inforrnmation and Strategy, Mr.
Sunday Akere, said the plan by the FG was executive lawlessness.
He said, “Osun and 28 others states went to the
Supreme Court to challenge the FG for manipulating the excessive crude
fund and non remission of money due to the account.
“The state demanded that the should pay to the local government councils and states all dues to them without any deduction.
“What the Finance Minister, Dr Ngozi Oknjo-Iweakla,
is doing is inconsistent with the rule of law. Why must the FG act
unilaterally on an issue before the highest court in the land?”
Another ACN governor, Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State objected to the planned implementation of SWF.
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