The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday approved the refund of a total of N148.14 billion to five States for the rehabilitation of federal roads in their domains.
The beneficiary States are Cross River (N18,394,737,608.85); Ondo (N7,822,147,577.08); Osun (N2,468,938,876.78); Bayelsa (N38,040,564,783.40) and Rivers (N78,953,067,518.29).
Cross River worked on 20 roads and one bridge; Ondo – six roads; Osun – two roads and one bridge; Bayelsa – five roads and one bridge; Rivers – three roads and three flyovers bridges.
Some of the bridges and roads were built about 10 years ago.
This much was disclosed to State House correspondents by Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, at the end of the third online FEC meeting, presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at Aso Rock Villa, Abuja.
Mohammed said that the Council, however, warned that there would be no reimbursement in future, should any State Government venture into such projects without the greenlight from Abuja.
Mohammed said: “You will recall that in 2016, 36 states of the federation sent a very huge bill to the federal government, asking for compensation for money that they have expended on federal roads.
“This prompted Mr. President to set up a committee to go and verify the claims of these 36 states, whether indeed these projects were actually constructed, were they completed, and in line with the federal government standards.
“At the end of that exercise by an inter-ministerial committee, chaired by the honorable Minister of Works and Housing, but also had Ministers of Education, Transportation, Finance, Minister of State for Works, D-G of Bureau of Public Procurement, and Permanent Secretary of Cabinet Office, as members.
“At the end of that exercise, the committee recommended that the federal government should refund N550,364,297.31 to 31 of the 36 states, after they were convinced that, yes indeed, the projects were completed and there were federal government roads.
“But the claims of five other states Cross River, Rivers, Ondo, Bayelsa and Osun failed on the grounds that they did not do proper documentation and they committee felt they needed proper documentation.
“So the committee went back with a new terms of reference to ensure that the claims of the five states were in order, that is why the BPP is on the committee. So at the end of the exercise, the committee now reported that the five states” can get their refunds.
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