The Federation Accounts Allocation Committee, FAAC, meeting for November ended in confusion Tuesday as representatives of Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory accused the federal government of not accounting for about $1billion(N168 billion) of excess crude oil money.
The Chairman of State Commissioners of Finance, Timothy Odaah, told reporters after the meeting which ended Tuesday night, that no state knew how the $1 billion difference reported in the Excess Crude Account balance, between October and November, came about.
The FAAC meeting is a monthly gathering of state finance commissioners and the federal finance ministry and the Accountant General of the federation, where federal oil receipts are shared between the federal and state authorities.
With falling oil price, the 36 states have turned more attention on the Excess Crude Account, which has depleted from more than $40 billion in 2007 to about $4 billion in 2014.
Though Mr. Odaah said the discrepancy has been noted for discussion at the next FAAC meeting, his disclosure called to question how transparent the management of the excess crude revenues is.
Prior to the October FAAC meeting, the Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, had told reporters that the balance of the Excess Crude Account stood at $4.11billion.
At the event, the minster also revealed that the country’s external reserves rose from $36.6billion in June to $39.48billion as at October 16.
She also said the balance in the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) stood at $1.55 billion.
But, at the end of the FAAC meeting on Tuesday, the Minister of state for Finance, Bashir Yuguda, told reporters that the current savings in the ECA had a balance of about $3.1 billion, raising questions about the $1billion difference.
Mr. Odaah had said on October that owing to the dwindling revenue allocation to the states from the federation accounts as a result of falling oil prices, the states had sent a request to President Goodluck Jonathan that $2 billion be shared.
But he said on Tuesday that the states had no knowledge how the balance suddenly dropped from $4.1 billion to $3.1 billion.

Source[url] http://premiumtimesng.com[/url]

This government and everybody associated with it must be probed by general buhari next year.

Abacha was a thief but with the way things are going, GEJ and his cronies will earn a place in the Guinness book of records for corruption or is it stealing now.

So much glaring case of graft and outright stealing.

1Billion Dollars = 1,000,000.00 X 1,000 Dollars

Simply put, that is One million Dollars in one thousand places

Does the ECA ever gets reconciled? This is an account that does not have many items going into it so it will be easy to trace and authenticate each figure there.

Aaahh, corruption in high places!!!

pendy79:
GEJ and his cronies will earn a place in the Guinness book of records for corruption or is it stealing now.

I pity you, you dont seem to know that this is ordinary stealing and not corruption. I recommend you go and revise your GS 101

let me ask pastor oristhejafor

Ordinaru stealing Nigerians will call corruption - gej

Jonathan 's destiny is to bankrupt Nigeria - bakare

Gej epitomize failure and bad leadership. Vote buhari for a corruption free country

GEJ

What we hear in this country is how money gets missing. However, these monies do not just fly like birds, they go somewhere. Why can't our journalist trace these monies and report to the general populace. We just scream and that is the end. It has to stop

Even if Jonathan loses the election. How sure are we that the next administration will not steal money. Our journalists must develop such skills and discourage potential thieves

The silly Minister just announced that the money is not missing but used to pay OIL MARKETERS.
This is just confirming the story, the money was used to pay for TAN.

Corrupt idiotz all over.

And some fools want me to vote this clueless government come next year. No way.

Election is fast approaching. Theres need for so much funds. Remember,looting is NOT corruption. They are fundamentally different...GEJ

such large sums of money keep disappearing. and nothing is being done. the otuoke man would rather wear his hat and smile in order to prove to the opposition that they cant hold the country to ransom.

By the way, If the money is really missing America will know.

THRASH.