Professor of Political Economy and Alternative Paradigms at the University of Abuja, Sadeeque Abba, speaks to Kassim Omomia on the allegation by Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, that the Federal Government printed N60bn and shared to it the states in the March Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting.

What is your take on the controversial N60bn allegedly printed by the Federal Government to augment March FAAC allocation to states?

There are a lot of politics to it and gaps Obaseki left which must be filled. Some of these gaps include, but is not limited to, his source of information concerning the printing of the N60bn, and what purpose it served, not only for him as governor, but also for us Nigerians. Again, the Federal Government’s denial is short of our expectation. We were expecting them to come out with a strong evidence and reasons to deny the Obaseki allegation.

Well, head or tail, the only loser in this political game is the Nigerian citizen, because both Obaseki and the Nigerian government are not sincere to themselves and Nigerians.

My prayer is for other Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) to appeal to them to speak to their consciences, so that they will be able to come out openly and objectively to tell Nigerians what all these are all about. My thinking is, this is just part and parcel of the Nigerian political game.

Obaseki may have some reasons to come out, because his not the only governor. There are 36 of them. He is not the only PDP governor, there are a lot of them.

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What are the economic implications of printing money notes?

There are the positive and negative aspects, but the negative aspects precede the positive. The economic implication is that your traditional revenue generating institutions, structures have fallen short of their requirements, expectation and statutory duties of generating enough funds for the Federal Government. It shows economically that the Federal Government is not doing well.

Her revenue base has dwindled and whittled down, and it can no longer be responsible and responsively address her own responsibilities and duties to her citizens.

But on the side, it shows the proactive nature and strategic capacity of the Federal Government to respond to challenges. If they refuse to print this money as a last resort, what other resort or options are open to us? What alternatives do they have, or do we have as a nation? It is not a crime, or an economic abuse by the Federal Government to print money.

Like I have said, there a lot of countries all over the world that have printed money, but they do not use it as a last resort. They use it as an economic and financial strategy to stabilise the economy of their nations.

Are there international implications?

Yes, there are. It shows that there is something wrong with your economy. It shows your partners that there is something wrong with your economy and, therefore, they cannot afford to invest in your economy. An economy that prints money as last resorts shows it is a desperate economy that requires desperate measures. It shows you do not have reserves you can rely upon. Like in Nigeria, we have three areas; we have the Stabilisation Fund, the Sovereign Wealth Fund and Excess Crude Account.

So, it shows that all these three accounts are not doing well, and all revenue generating structures and institutions are equally not doing well. So, we printed this N60 billion as a last resort.

In fact, America prints money into hundreds of several billions of dollars to stabilise their economy. It is a strategy. At a point, China printed over 400 billion Yuan to inject into her economy to bring the Yuan down so that American dollar will be high, and China will get direct foreign investment. Putin did it in Russia.

So, what are we talking about? The only thing in Nigeria is that we are not very sincere with what we do. Head or tail, Obaseki is not losing, Buhari is not losing, it is the common man like you and me that are losing. Our concern now is: how can we force both Obaseki and Buhari to account, that is the most important thing. They should not join us to play politics with their own political chess games. We have no business.

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Is Obaseki playing politics with all these?

Yes, he is playing politics; absolutely he is. He is not the only governor. Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State is there, Babagana Zulum of Borno State is there, all APC governors. If Buhari is doing wrong, el-Rufai will call him to order, Zulum will be the first to blow the whistle. If there is any governor I respect in Nigeria, it is Nyeson Wike of Rivers State. Wike can come out and be blunter than Obaseki.

Why is Wike keeping quiet? Is it because he knows what Obaseki is saying is not true? Obaseki is playing to the gallery. Ask Obaseki if he refused the N60bn that was shared to Edo State because it was printed by the Federal Government. He did not refuse it.

Did he ask local governments in his state not to receive the FAAC allocation? He did not, he only received his own and came out to complain. Is he the only governor in that FAAC? Please, we should be very honest with ourselves as Nigerians.

Who are the victims?

Victims of this politics are only Nigerian citizens. Unfortunately, of the 200 million Nigerians, less than 10,000 are aware of this issue. The rest are busy looking for what to eat. They do not bother about this politics. So, please the media should help Nigerians.

Let the Federal Government and the states up their game, address these issues, because they are not doing much. The Presidency is failing, and the governors are doing worse. So, let them put their heads together and come up with economic strategies that can at least afford Nigerians the necessities of life.