Group Blasts Buhari Over Paris Club Refund To Benue

By Ignatius Shelleng/ Makurdi

The recent decision by the President Muhammadu Buhari Administration to recall the Paris Club refunds paid to Benue and four other states has drawn the ire of a non-profit organisation, the Middle Belt Movement for Justice and Peace, MBMJP.

Responding to the development in a chat with The Crest in Markurdi, the Benue State capital on Tuesday, the group’s convener, Comrade Joe Bukka described the federal government’s decision as “the height of impunity, executive recklessness and a witch-hunt against ordinary Nigerians.”

Bukka could not understand why the federal government would mbark “on a systematic witch-hunt of some state governments probably for political reasons to the detriment of civil servants and ordinary Nigerian.”

He insisted that it was not the administration’s business to monitor how states disburse or utilize their funds, adding that the Paris Club refund was only kept in trust by the federal government on behalf of the states and should not be regarded as  a gratification or a loan to the states.

“The federal government lacks the powers to recall the money which belongs to the state from the onset. As far as we are concerned, this is the height of impunity, executive recklessness and a witch-hunt against the ordinary Nigerians who were expecting to get the backlog of their salaries from the fund.

“We just wonder if this federal government has the interest of the ordinary people at heart. Take for instance a state like Benue that has, over time, been contending with socio-economic and security challenges as a result of the lingering herdsmen killings, and you want to treacherously sit on their legitimate funds?

“There is no doubt about it, this directive will cause collateral damage to the socio-economic life of the government and people of the effected states. Therefore, it must be reversed without further delay because even if the states fail to transparently appropriate the funds, they would have the people to contend with.

“The federal government must realize that this move will deepen the animosity of the people of states like Benue towards the APC-led federal administration because they will be hurt the more and obviously unhappy.”