Ayade Faults Claims of Disbursing $500m Bakassi Stabilisation Fund to Cross Rivers

Cross Rivers State Governor, Ben Ayade yesterday disputed the claims of the Revenue Allocation Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission (RAMFAC) that that the federal government released $500 million monthly to the state for the loss of Bakassi Peninsula to Cameroon.

However, the governor claimed that the state government had only received N45 billion only from the federal government as a Bakassi stabilisation fund.

In a statement by its Special Adviser on Media to the governor, Mr. Christian Ita yesterday, Ayade said the federal government had been releasing N500 million monthly that had accrued to the state in the 91-month-old administration of Ayade.

Ayade noted that the federal government had been paying the N500 million monthly stabilisation fund to the state for ceding of the Bakassi Peninsula and the attendant loss of oil wells since 2008.

He said that it was proper to set the record straight because of the insinuation that the state had been receiving $500 million monthly.

He explained that the attention of the Cross River State Government “has been drawn to a video of the appearance of the Chairman of the Revenue Allocation Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission (RAMFAC), Mr A.M. Shehu, on Channels Television’s Sunrise Programme.

He claimed the federal government pays $500 million monthly as stabilisation fund to the state for the ceding of Bakassi Peninsula and the attendant loss of oil wells.

He said: “We strongly believe the commission’s chairman misspoke because as a state we are not aware of, and have never received $500 million as a stabilisation fund from the federal government.

“However, if Shehu was referring to N500 million as against the $500 million which he claimed, then there is nothing new about it.

“The fund has been in existence since 2008, long before the coming to office of Governor Ben Ayade-led administration.”

“Cross River has so far received N84 billion for 168 months while Ayade’s 91 months old administration got N45 billion from the amount,” the governor said in a statement.