Commissioners of Finance and Accountants
General of the 36 states of the federation on
Tuesday distanced themselves from claims
by the former Minister of Finance, Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala, that they were part of the
decision to withdraw and spend $2bn from
Nigeria’s excess crude oil revenue account
last December.
Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole, and
his Kaduna State counterpart, Nasir El Rufai,
had, after the National Economic Council
(NEC) meeting in Abuja on Tuesday last
week, accused Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala of
unilaterally approving the withdrawal of
about $2.1 bn from the $4.1 bn left in the
Excess Crude Account (ECA) last November
“without authorization”.
But in a swift reaction, the former Minister
had vehemently rejected the accusation,
describing allegations linking her to the
allegations as “false, malicious and totally
without foundation”.
Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala’s reaction, conveyed
through a statement by her Media Adviser,
Paul Nwabuikwu, said all expenditures from
the ECA “were discussed at meetings of the
Federation Accounts Allocation Committee
(FAAC) attended by finance commissioners
from the 36 states”.
“It is curious that in their desperation to use
the esteemed National Economic Council for
political and personal vendetta, the persons
behind these allegations acted as if the
constitutionally recognized FAAC, a potent
expression of Nigeria’s fiscal federalism,
does not exist,” she said.
But in a stern reaction on Tuesday in Abuja,
members of the FAAC, under the aegis of the
Forum of Commissioners of Finance,
disowned the former minister, describing her
claim as “misleading and far from the fact”.
“It has come to our notice the statement
credited to the former Coordinating Minister
of the Economy and Honorable Minister of
Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, that the
Federation Account Allocation Committee
(FAAC) approved the withdrawal from
Excess Crude (Foreign) Account the sum of
Two Billion U.S. Dollar
($2,000,000,000.00),” the commissioners
said.
“This statement is far from the fact and is
misleading,” the statement said.
The FAAC meeting for November 2014 ended in confusion
when the then Minister of State for Finance, Bashir Yuguda,
could not explain how the balance in the ECA had dropped
from $4.1 bn at the end of October to $3.1 bn.
Prior to the October FAAC meeting, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala had
told reporters that the balance of the ECA stood at $4.11bn,
while the country’s external reserves rose from $36.6bn in
June to $39.48billion as at October 16.
Regardless, the then Chairman of the Forum of State
Commissioners of Finance and former Ebonyi State
Commissioner of Finance, Timothy Odaah, had denied
knowledge of any decision to withdraw from the account,
insisting that none of its members was aware of the
withdrawal.
“No state knew how the $1 bn difference reported in the
Excess Crude Account balance, between October and
November, came about,” Mr. Odaah told reporters then. “The
discrepancy has been noted for discussion at the next FAAC
meeting. It calls to question how transparent the
management of the excess crude revenues has been.”
Till the end of his tenure, Mr. Odaah, who later claimed
reconciliation was ongoing with the Finance Minister, did
not reveal his findings.
However, several months later, Mr. Oshiomhole stirred the
controversy afresh last week with the allegation that the
former minister was economical with the truth about the
country’s finances.
Mr. Oshiomhole had lambasted Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala over her
claims that Nigerians knew what the three tiers of
government usually collect through the State Finance
Commissioners who usually attend the monthly FAAC
meetings.
The power to take money from the ECA, Mr. Oshiomhole
argued, is vested in the NEC, an institution created by the
constitution, and not State Finance Commissioners, who are
not known by the constitution.
In disowning Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala, the Commissioners’
Forum pointed out that the law setting up FAAC, which
predates the ECA, “cannot approve withdrawal and has not
done so in the past.”
If anything, the Commissioners said, records of FAAC
meetings show that members have always queried the
activities on the ECA, and therefore did not decide any
withdrawal.
Although the Commissioners said they observed the
withdrawal of $2bn from the ECA in December 2014, the
then Minister of State Finance and Chairman of FAAC, Mr.
Yuguda, had explained during plenary that approval came
from former President Goodluck Jonathan.
The withdrawals were to help pay subsidy claims to oil
marketers, who had threatened to stop importing petroleum
products.
“FAAC did not and could not have approved, nor took the
decision to withdraw the sum of Two Billion U.S. Dollar
($2,000,000,000.00) from the Excess Crude Account,” the
Commissioners said.

OK now, make una left Madame Ngozi jare