House Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila has reacted to the recent $1 billion withdrawal from the Excess Crude Account(ECA). The House of representatives member wrote on social media;

"It is important that the legality of the withdrawal of $1b from the Excess Crude Account is properly understood.

1. The ECA I have always maintained is an illegal account and I instituted a court action against it during then Jonathan administration.

2. Unfortunately, until a final decision has been made by the courts the account is still operative.

3. There is a clear misunderstanding of the powers of the National Assembly over public funds and its limitations.

4. The National Assembly only has power of appropriation over monies belonging to the federal government.

5. The ECA does not belong to the federal government but to the 3 tiers of government.

6. The National Assembly cannot query how the states decide to spend their money. The only institution that can query this is the state assembly.

7. Where the Governors have decided to “donate” some of their funds from the ECA to fight Boko Haram, their state assemblies can kick against it that such was not appropriated by them. I do agree that due process wasn’t followed by The Governors as they should have sought approval of their states before the donation.

It is however not for the NASS to complain on behalf of the State Assemblies. This is part of the principle of separation of powers in a constitutional democracy. The National Assembly can only discuss the portion of the federal government money spent if any.

On whether Gov Fayose or any other Gov has a right to kick I believe he does. No matter how inappropriate if he does not accede to the request or deduction from his state's portion there is no amount of consensus that can bind him as postulated by the Chairman of the Governors forum because such portion belongs to his state and not to the Governors forum. So he may be entitled to a refund.

This is my position on this legality of the withdrawal of $1b from the ECA.

https://politicsngr.com/2017/12/18/house-leader-gbajabiamila-defends-1-billion-eca-tackles-fayose/

Withdrawing from it without input from other Arms is not right.

It is like u saying let us save this money whenever it is more than whatever we are expecting and you now access it later to spend without everybody agreeing to it again.

Unless FEC has the representatives of all the Governors.

The only right thinking person in HoR

Another right thinking person in HoR....
Second after Fayose

Ok

I disagree.

I just love this Man. Yet Igbos and Yorubas have refused to see the urgent need to unite as One to prevent their future Generation from being perpetually enslaved. The earlier Southerners; Igbos, Yorubas, others do away with senseless enemity and unite the better for Sothern Nigeria, else... I perfectly agree with this guy.

SurePresident:
Most Chriatians are selfish fools that'll rather betray and sell the future of their Children and unborn Generation to moslems in the name of maintaining a non-existent peace. Judgement of the CREATOR of all and Thunder shall destroy every selfcentred Christian that has cowardly refused to fight to secure the future of their unborn Generation. GOD Bless Donald Trump, he knows you can't use peace to tackle moslems, if Israel had not been giving them back their wickedness and distructions, they would have wiped out the Hebrews from Earth by now. No matter how holy u claimed to be, the Book of Revelation 21:8 makes it very clear that "the cowardly fearful Christians would have their place in Hell Fire" They shall be roasted to ashes.

,

What is legal?

How much has the house spent this year? On what?

Always playing pious whereas their contribution to progress is NEGATIVE!

Scrap the house.

Anybody that thinks that the governors agreed to "donate" their funds to the federal government is a MUGU..

The president just provided adequate reason for the governors to put their hand in the ECA...

Expect them to ask for their own $1 billion before new year

Buhari why?

Togo should just come and adopt Nigeria

Smartly isolating himself from the $1billion ECA shenanigans

what they promised

Everything is afraid and running from this Buhari Govt walahi, EVEN HARMATTAN NO GREE SHOW FACE DOWN SOUTH

Now i understand the whole thing... So that money is my states money ?

Keneking:
Another right thinking person in HoR....
Second after Fayose

Gbam

GavelSlam:
Gbaja on point.

And you will shamelessly blame Jonathan for the ECA depletion by all three tiers of government - LGA, state and federal
On point ko. Off point ni.
Hypocrites y'all.

FG, States, LGs Share N568.4 Billion for Oct
15 NOVEMBER 2013

Also, $1billion was proposed for distribution to complement shortfall in expected revenue." The $1billion is a compromise by the FG over its words in September not to augment shortfalls anymore.

Responding to the presentation, the chairman of the States Commissioners of Finance and Ebonyi State Commissioner of Finance, Mr Timothy Odaah, lamented that the statutory allocation was getting smaller and smaller. "It appears this is the worst in terms of returns. This is the least in allocations as far as this year is concerned. We are mourning the dearth of funds and this is a wakeup call for states and local governments to buoy up their internally generated revenue."

While appreciating the "magnanimity" of President Goodluck Jonathan to approve the $1billion from the excess crude account and to be shared among the federal, state and local governments, Odaah expressed disappointment with the returns made by the NNPC.

He said that the states had requested for $2bn to complement for the shortfall in revenue but got only $1billion. In September, Odaah and fellow commissioners had walked out of the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) when the federal government said that the framework of the 2013 budget was no longer realistic and it won't augment shortfall in revenue. Odaah raised issues with the statutory allocations of previous months.

More from: http://allafrica.com/stories/201311150323.html

www.nairaland.com/attachments/2578022_iweala_jpeg0858fd35c7757170d8155dae6623e1c2

Na wa

NtoAkwaIbom:
Now i understand the whole thing... So that money is my states money ?

That point was clarified by Tinubu while Obasanjo was president.

anonimi:
Tinubu Tackles FG, CBN On Excess Crude Oil Sales Account
Feb 22, 2001









The Lagos State Governor, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, yesterday joined issues with the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CB N) over the recent face-off between the different tiers of government on the excess crude oil sales reserve account of US$ 1. 8 billion which is about N198 billion.

Expressing concern at the impression being created that the economy is rudderless, Tinubu argued that the central issue transcends the release or non-release of the fund into the Federation Account.

In his words: “The fundamental issues and principles at stake go much deeper. They are more broadly about the rule of law and the supremacy of the constitution on one hand, and the need for cooperation and coordination in a true federal structure, as a basis for sustaining and strengthening our fledgling democracy on the other hand”.

Governor Tinubu disagreed with the CBN's position that release of the excess crude reserves to the states and local governments, though legitimate, would lead to inflation; cause a rundown of the nation's foreign reserves; weaken the exchange rate further and run counter to agreements reached with the IMF.

The Governor contended that "in a period of excess capacity and low purchasing power, there should not be undue inflationary pressures from an injection of funds into the economy. Instead, such a development should be beneficial to economic activity and growth, despite the fact that there are supply rigidities and inefficiencies which would limit the potential benefits”.

On the purported likely impact on foreign reserves, Tinubu argued that "in an import-dependent economy such as ours, it is inevitable that an upturn in the level of economic activity would engender a fall in foreign reserves. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Rather, it would be immoral to appear to be building up high foreign reserves in the midst of grinding poverty”.

He stressed further that if the N198 billion released is matched by an equivalent US$1.8 billion, there should not be a fall in the value of the Naira as the supply of dollars would be in place to match any increased demand”.

Tinubu also said it would be unfair for the federal government to agree unilaterally to commit revenues due to other tiers of government, to an agreement with the IMF or anyone else.

Attributing inflationary pressures in the economy largely to the federal government's overspending and printing of money to finance such expenditure, Tinubu said "It is hardly fair for the FGN to overspend and then seek to correct the inflationary effect on the economy by starving other tiers of government of their rightful funds”.

Stressing that there is no basis for CBN or any authority to flout the constitution and deny states and local governments their own share of the Federation Account, Tinubu noted that "the excess crude reserve account is itself an illegality, carried over from the military era, as there is no provision in the law or the constitution for federally - collected revenues to be diverted to such an account”.

Advocating constructive dialogue on the management of the economy Governor Tinubu said "it is time for us to sit down and dialogue about how to move from where we are now, to where we need to get to, while respecting true federalism in fiscal and other matters”.

From: http://asiwajubolatinubu.com/archives/news/2001/02/22/20010222N01.html

Interesting

Thank you Honourable sir.

Governor Fayose was right.

Dee60:

What is legal?

How much has the house spent this year? On what?

Always playing pious whereas their contribution to progress is NEGATIVE!

Scrap the house.

When something is wrong, admit it. Scrap them for saying what is right or what?
Come to think of it, what positive contribution has Buhari made to this country?

If the ECA is illegal how then does it belong to the three tiers of government...this man just contradicted himself...if the illegality of the ECA goes beyond its nomenclature i.e in practice / operation / disbursement then I believe every point he raised there are pointless...For me i have nothing against saving for the rainy days or for frugal purposes however i am purely against diversion of funds from their main purpose in this case the so - called $1bn ECA funds. Lest we forget, certain oil producing countries have institutions/politicians akin to the ECA in our case ,Norway for instance..

Onyinye15:
The National Assembly cannot query how the states decide to spend their money. The only institution that can query this is the state assembly

Are you responding to the OP or you are responding to your own personal OP?
Ayam not understanding.

... He's right. Flesh and blood didn't revealed this to him.