Edo: APC boycotts meeting with govt over failure to provide documents

By Jude Opara

The All Progressives Congress, (APC) transition committee yesterday said they boycotted the joint meeting with the outgoing Edo State government’s committee because the latter failed to present to it the necessary documents that will enable a smooth process.
It would be recalled that Chris Nehikhare, the Edo State Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, had on Tuesday accused the members of the APC team of turning themselves into a probe committee and inquisitor.
Nehikhare who spoke for the State Government also accused them of asking for documents that only the outgoing governor can hand over to the incoming government.
He, however, assured that the outgoing government would hand over to the incoming government a detailed handover note on November 12, 2024.
Reacting to the State Government allegations, Patrick Ikhariale, Secretary to the APC Transition Committee in a statement made available to newsmen in Benin City also denied the allegation that members of the APC committee have turned themselves into a probe panel instead of a transition committee.
“The outgoing PDP administration of Governor Godwin Obaseki in Edo state has not presented the necessary documents that will enable a smooth transition process, a situation that has hindered the work of the APC Transition Committee.
“We wish to state without any fear of contradiction that the Government Team seems to be evasive and trying strenuously to shift the focus from the essence of the transition.
“We are of the considered opinion that in line with the seamless Transition initiative, the government should be open and transparent enough to avail us the documents required to make our assignment easier without raising airs about our good intentions.
“We have not constituted ourselves into a probe panel. Request for information and documents should not be seen as fishing for trouble or asking for too much as this conforms with international best practices,” he said.
Ikhariale said the documents the APC team required from the outgoing government are all assets and liabilities, all Edo state assets located outside the state, detailed report of all Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) and Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) report 2020 till date.
They also asked for detailed report of the Derivation Fund to the state 2020 till date, all maturing legal obligations 2020 till date which include all contracts, pending or ongoing.
Others are total indebtedness (local and foreign) from 2020 till date, including bonds and treasury bills, all approved contracts by the state government from 2020 till date.

“Size, number, and structure of all MDAs including Human Resource records/data on public/civil servants and their roles. These should also include achievements and gaps if any to date.

“All annual financial Audit reports published and unpublished, a report of the 2024 appropriation and performance to date including the revised budget. This should also include the current Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF).

“All Public Private Partnerships (PPP) arrangements and Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs), all state-backed initiatives, and all fiscal treasury instruments such as treasury bills.

“All assets sold by the state between 2020 till date, bank balances across all financial institutions, all programs being managed by nonstate actors, total monthly personnel cost (recurrent et al). “All federal refunds, existing partnerships with development partners. (credit, grants, and aids/Technical Assistance), existing arrangements with any federal agency and all laws passed or amended between 2020 and till date. “Payroll structure /current wage bill including remuneration of consultants, a report of the current technology deployed by the state and nature of the partnership, any other relevant information that will be useful to the incoming administration” he added. He said the status reports were expected to cover all headings and sub-headings in the governance process especially the details of the financial commitments on the various projects, programmes and responsibilities of the government.