FEDERAL MINISTRY OF FINANCE

News Release. May 28, 2015

OSHIOMHOLE’S BASELESS DIATRIBE AGAINST OKONJO-IWEALA

It is no surprise that a few days after the Federal Ministry of Finance published the details of what the Federal and State governments received from the Excess Crude Account over the past four years, Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has launched an attack against the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. His article “Economy: Okonjo-Iweala’s hidden figures” is full of gaping holes, both in facts and logic.

Obviously, for daring to publish how the ECA was shared and showing that governors who cannot pay salaries have no excuses, Okonjo-Iweala is being targeted. It is noteworthy that several of their colleagues have been able to manage their finances reasonably well under these same difficult circumstances.

The release of the ECA details has also demonstrated very clearly that there is no substance in the wild allegations that any money is missing from the account or that finances of the country under Okonjo-Iweala watch have not been well managed.

Like previous baseless allegations by some Governors, the motive behind Oshiomhole’s attack is clear: to deflect public attention away from the manner in which they have run the finances of their states and make Okonjo-Iweala the scapegoat. If it was meant to intimidate the Minister, it has failed abysmally.

How can Governor Oshiomhole claim that state governors were not properly briefed on the status of the ECA when his commissioner of finance attends all the FAAC meetings where decisions are taken and communicated to the nation?

This diversionary tactic will not succeed because Nigerians are too smart to buy into this fiction. Secondly, the Finance Ministry under Okonjo-Iweala, the Minister who started the practice of publishing details of allocations from the Federation Account to all the three tiers of government, has regularly furnished Nigerians with information on the country’s finances.

Governor Oshiomhole’s statement that Okonjo-Iweala “must disclose to the nation the full details of subsidy payments made to oil marketers in the last four years” is therefore astonishing given the fact that EVERY payment made to the marketers has been published in the media and widely disseminated through all news channels.

Oshiomhole’s allegation that Okonjo-Iweala has not been transparent is ridiculous and totally lacking in merit. Apart from the monthly publication of allocations to the federal, state and local governments, the Federal Ministry of Finance under Okonjo-Iweala also publishes SURE-P receipts and distribution to different tiers, details of payments to oil marketers and other information.

Has Governor Oshiomhole demonstrated the same level of openness in his management of the affairs of Edo State? Can Oshiomhole also go public with ALL the information showing what he has received from various sources and the uses to which he has deployed them?

Equally incomprehensible – for a supposedly smart Governor - is Oshiomhole’s claim that the CME has “just woken up from her slumber to realize that oil marketers have been all along falsifying subsidy claims and defrauding the nation of billions of Naira”. This statement underscores the extent to which he is willing to go in his desperation to tar Okonjo-Iweala. When she returned as Finance Minister in 2011, the outstanding fuel subsidy bill was about N1.3 trillion. It was the work done on subsidy fraud by the Aig-Imoukhuede Committee which the Minister set up, later elevated into a presidential panel that determined that over N300 billion of the amount was fraudulent. This eventually led to the prosecution of some persons for subsidy fraud and reduction of the annual subsidy budget to N791 billion, saving the country over a trillion naira in the process. Maybe it is His Excellency who was snoring while this was going on. Such baseless posturing only serves to diminish the credibility of Oshiomhole in the minds of objective Nigerians.

For the record, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala has no apologies for insisting that a claim of N159 billion for forex differentials by the marketers out of a total bill of N200 billion should go through an additional verification process. When 80% of a subsidy claim is made up of forex differentials and not the value of the amount of fuel supplied, the right and proper thing to do is to take extra steps to ensure that the country is not being cheated. That is what Okonjo-Iweala did.

Oshiomhole’s allegation that the Minister is involved in “an unholy alliance” with government agencies and the marketers is therefore manifestly untrue and totally irresponsible. How can a minister against whom the oil marketers have conducted a very public campaign of calumny be in league with them? A decent public official should not make such scurrilous and unsubstantiated statements.

The most laughable part of Oshiomhole’s article is the claim that Okonjo-Iweala has been speaking out lately because of the “fear of Buhari”. Nigerians know this is ridiculous. If there is any minister whose voice has been strong on the right issues over the past four years it is Okonjo-Iweala. Okonjo-Iweala combines a stalwart integrity, a mastery of her mandate and the courage of her convictions. She therefore has no reason to fear. Those who cannot adequately explain what they did with the resources of their states and are begging for bailout are those who should to be scared.

Paul C Nwabuikwu

Special Adviser to the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance

Oshiomhole is a black he-goat. He should face his cultist infested state.

The state with d highest payee tax is edo. The idiot should clear from road, let's see human beings

Osho shud concentrate on his governotarial duties or his verg wife and let us hear word jare. is he now an auditor or something ?

No need for all these Osho baba. GEJ was a mess, atleast that what APC even used to dethrone him. Soo no fuse man. U have already won. Soo go in there and clean the mess. Aint that why Nigeria voted for u again.


Just shut it and get to work.

Reading time

This woman is a very fraudulent lady. She conveniently refused to address all the major issues raised by the comrade governor but instead, started attacking the governor and other governors.

Someone should tell madam minister to quit whipping up silly sentiment and start answering questions as regards how she managed our economy. Nigerians want to know how much was earned as excess crude revenue earned between 2013 to date and how it was expended. She should tell us how much she has withdrawn from the SWF without the knowledge of the state and local government that jointly owns the fund. We also want to know why federal is borrowing to pay civil servants salary despite the huge resources at their disposal. She should also tell us where she got the authority to spend revenue from the ECA on sure-p and subsidy without national assembly appropriation. This and many more are the questions we want answers to and not the silly response she gave above.

KIA TGIS ONE GO PAIN OSHIOMOLE WELL WELL. INSTEAD OF AM TO CONCERNTRATE ON HIS LOSSED VIRGIN. NA NOI HIM WAN ATTACK
. WAITING FOR D NEXT EPISODE.

Okonjo-Iweala is being targeted.

Playing the victim card as expected.

This eventually led to the prosecution of some persons for subsidy fraud

That's the problem right there. Who and who got prosecuted, don't they ffuccking have names.

The most laughable part of Oshiomhole’s article is the claim that Okonjo-Iweala has been speaking out lately because of the “fear of Buhari”. Nigerians know this is ridiculous.

We go know whether she dey fear am or not after the handover. I hope she will be bold enough to stay back after the handover. We're going to witness a showdown, as from Monday, facts will begin to roll-out, liars will be unmasked, the corrupt will find their rightful place, and above all justice will prevail.

MY THOUGHTS


while Osho baba may not be 100% correct in his assertions, I am not a simpleton to believe a single word from the mouth of NOI and her cronies. I also fault the statement that Nigerians have been kept abreast with the dealings of the Federation account.

The shenanigans of this administration (of which NOI was a high ranking member) is enough to erode any atom of trust they once had.

NOI should stay back in Nigeria for the sake of her own credibility whilst giving full accountability of how she and her Boss spent our money.

She should have stayed at world bank since she wasn't prepared yet to serve her fatherland.

Harvard graduate ko Hazard graduate ni.

Good response from Madam NOI. Oshiomole, tell us what you did with your own share or GO and REST.

osho I beg try to y.an sh your new wife naaa !

.For madam NOI's information, unlike her, gov oshiomhole has not borrowed money to pay salaries.The more she tries hard to exonerate her self from d current sorry state of our economy, the more she embarrasses herself.

E be like say d small girl dey scatter him medulla oblongata

The most laughable part of Oshiomhole’s article is the claim that Okonjo-Iweala has been speaking out lately because of the “fear of Buhari”. Nigerians know this is ridiculous. If there is any minister whose voice has been strong on the right issues over the past four years it is Okonjo-Iweala. Okonjo-Iweala combines a stalwart integrity, a mastery of her mandate and the courage of her convictions. She therefore has no reason to fear. Those who cannot adequately explain what they did with the resources of their states and are begging for bailout are those who should to be scared.

On point!


Oshimole is simply trying very hard to be in Buhari's good books for obvious reason!

letsbet:
Osho shud concentrate on his virgin wife and let us hear word jare. is he now an auditor or something ?

Chai ..

Everybody come get mouth to talk against Ngozi, even Oshiomhole.

seunmsg:
This woman is a very fraudulent lady. She conveniently refused to address all the major issues raised by the comrade governor but instead, started attacking the governor and other governors.

Someone should tell madam minister to quit whipping up silly sentiment and start answering questions as regards how she managed our economy. Nigerians want to know how much was earned as excess crude revenue earned between 2013 to date and how it was expended. She should tell us how much she has withdrawn from the SWF without the knowledge of the state and local government that jointly owns the fund. We also want to know why federal is borrowing to pay civil servants salary despite the huge resources at their disposal. She should also tell us where she got the authority to spend revenue from the ECA on sure-p and subsidy without national assembly appropriation. This and many more are the questions we want answers to and not the silly response she gave above.

Obviously, you didn't read the article. Now, go back and read it. It is still up there. You will thank me later

Just like NOI deliberately deflected the ignorants from questions raised by Prof Soludo just 3 months ago, she has done same to questions raised by Gov Oshiomole......Madam, can you make your handover note public for sake of accountability as claimed by you in your reply?

Degis:



Obviously, you didn't read the article. Now, go back and read it. It is still up there. You will thank me later

I read the article and I can't find her response to most of the weighty allegations raised by Gov. Oshiomole. All she did was to abuse the governor and beat around the bush on the major issues raised.

seunmsg:


I read the article and I can't find her response to most of the weighty allegations raised by Gov. Oshiomole. All she did was to abuse the governor and beat around the bush on the major issues raised.

Now, let me break it down like this, She referred him to his Commissioner of Finance and also referred him to the various National Economic Council Meetings and Memos, which Gov. Adams is privy to, in order to refresh his memory about the various decisions reached over the years as well as information in the public domain