₦airaland Forum

Jesusloveyou:
haba!defending corruption?i know u can't understand d long essay, in summary,d bal in ECA as of 2012 is $10b,she only share $4b from ECA, d accrual money into ECA should be $30b, swf was use for consultancy fee, upon all this,she stil borrow to pay workers, [s]i hope u wil stil be here,when gej,madueke,pej and she wil be in jail,[/s]

Says Oshiomole who said he didn't get any meaningful information about how the ECA funds was ran. And you belief him? Perhaps, you should go back and fetch your brain where your left it!

chynergy1:
WHERE WERE YOU ALL THIS WHILE?

Well, now he has spoken...

I believe these allegations didn't just magically come to him?

Attack the message, not the messenger for now. Better late than never.

What a country we are indeed. A tree they say cant make a forest. How can the president of this country handle corruption alone with the likes of these thieves in the federal government who are mearnt to lessen the work of the president by virtue of there office. So even Sure p is fraud. I registered nd nothin good came out of it.

Okonjo owes Nigeria a whole lot of explanation and accountability, otherwise no doubt she has dissapointed us.

And lets not think Buhari can handle corruption alone with the likes of those political cabals loaded with criminal minds. Every body has to join hand to carry the log of tree from the ground from their own ends.

AfricanGod2:
“Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is a heroine not just of Nigeria, but of the entire continent. Her crusade against corruption has put her life at risk.” — The Independent (UK)

People become renowned for things other than scholarly articles, and someone who graduated magna cum laude from Harvard has no business being mentioned in a discussion about her professional credibility.




Let me refresh your memory regarding the constitutional "responsibilities" of Dr Okonjo Iweala.

The Federal Executive Council

According to the constitution.
"The Cabinet of Nigeria is the Executive Branch of the Government of Nigeria. The Cabinet members are appointed by the President and report to the President. The Cabinet oversees 19 Federal Ministries, each responsible for some aspect of providing government services, as well as a number of parastatals (government-owned corporations)."

Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala is a member of the FEC and so is not answerable to Adams Oshiomle or any other governor, and as a member of the FEC she is not expected to prepare or give slide presentations to any governors.

She is also a member of the NEC, however the NEC is not a body she is mandated to attend by the Constitution. It is more or less an advisory body and a means to foster communication between the states and the federal government, but this is what things have been like since 2014:

"The National Economic Council is one of the federal executive councils designed to serve as a clearing house for economic issues between the states and the federal government. Even as strategic as this body is, of recent, it's been submerged in politics, as its monthly meeting has not held since August 2013 following the division of the Nigeria Governors' Forum.
How do we rescue this body from the quagmire of politics in view of its importance.
Join us at 1pm on Focus Nigeria." - AIT

Now tell me why a lady with so little time will waste it on preparing "slides" and "lessons" for a council of members that won't even attend meetings.

Finally, you mentioned something about state governors asking for their state's money and mentioned that Okonjo is not superior to governors.
I just want to say that I agree she should give an account of the handling of Nigeria's finances, but constitutionally she has no responsibility to give this account to governors. Moreover governor's, who supposedly have superior authority to the finance minister are too subject to the minister's decisions to be really considered superior.
The fact is that until governors can't do without relying on the hard work of the federal government vis-à-vis revenue from federal agencies then they should shut the hell up and stop complaining. So far it's only the likes of Oshiomle and Amaechi who can't pay salaries that are complaining.

Absolute trash.

Even those who didn't read the article and those who read and comprehended nothing will start/have started calling for her probe.
Anyway, who ever infringes on the law by which this nation is made sovereign, who ever is found guilty, should be brought to books.

omonnakoda:
Your exact words are that she is a "world renowned economist". Now to the best of my knowledge she is not an economics scholar and has not held a job as an "economist" so what was the theatre where this renown was garnered

Graduating magna cum laude from Harvard has nothing to do with professional credibility . One is about "ACADEMIC" ability and nothing to do with integrity which is what credibility is all about. One is historical and the other is contemporary . That you have an IQ of 200 is irrelevant to ability to DO A JOB
I think your point about the National Economic council is meaningless.The council exists and is mandated by the constitution.
H - National Economic Council

18. The National Economic Council shall comprise the following members -

(a) the Vice-President who shall be the Chairman;

(b) the Governor of each State of the Federation; and

(c) the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria established under the Central Bank of Nigeria Decree 1991 or any enactment replacing that Decree.

19. The National Economic Council shall have power to advise the President concerning the economic affairs of the Federation, and in particular on measures necessary for the co-ordination of the economic planning efforts or economic programmes of the various Governments of the Federation.

Coordination between the states and FG relates most importantly to transferring payments from the Federation account.This should be done by the CBN and NOT the Minister of Finance.The PDP distorted this





The Minister of Finance is not supposed to be there by the constitution but became involved when the government started flouting the constitution so do not distort facts or history.The constitution does not allow the operation of the so called Excess Crude Account and if this account was not being operated then there should be no need for the Minister of Finance to attend rather it is the CBN governor that should. What should happen is government sells oil and collects other receipts directly into the Federation account and makes deductions for debts/guaranteed loans and remit the difference. But because of FG high handedness this arrangement came about so to say she has no responsibility to the governors is absurd. If you are ignorant find out the history of how many times the governors have taken the FG to court to release their money and how this funny arrangement came into being. The FG WITHHOLDS their money illegally and this would have been settled long ago but for PDP manouevres. Otherwise the courtd would enforce the constitution and the money will come to the governors from the CBN directly without touching her hands

#omonnakoda, please stop dignifying this man's trash. Ability to write english does not necessarily guarantee sound reasoning. Thanks.

AfricanGod2:
My point is that Oshiomole's letter is simply slander and politics. It has valid points here and there but the more I read the more it seemed like Oshiomole feels Okonjo Iweala is responsible for everything in Nigeria, from prevention of oil theft to controlling the exchange rate and safe guarding pensioners. She is not. Oshiomole is playing this blame game now knowing fully well that his state is going to experience a cash crunch like every other state in Nigeria, and his people may be affected, and they may blame him for it. When that time comes he wants to be able to say that he told you so, he told you Okonjo was mismanaging our resources but you didn't listen. Absolute politics.

A real governor should worry about the future of his state. If he knows an individual is at at fault and he has evidence of wrong doing he should quietly take it up with the EFCC for them to worry about, then continue with his state's business. Basically, if this were not mere politics the heading should be something like:

-Financial corruption: Oshiomole and EFCC expose ECA and SWF mismanagement.
-Okonjo Iweala indicted for financial mismanagement.

until then it's all politics and Nigerians keep falling for it.

I appreciate your write ups. Its quite insightful but permit me 2 vary a bit. NOI is a minister of d FRN. Like u rightly noted she reports 2d president but she is also accountable 2d people of nigeria than govs who are accountable 2 their individual states. Oshiomole represents d people of edo state(who NOI is accountable 2) on NEC. So its not out of place 4 oshiomole 2 demand 4 d figures he demanded 4. Its not about time magazine making her one of d worlds influential persons (shekau is also a Time magazines most influential persons). Graduating from harvard doesn't confer on her automatic "professional credibility". Her work on ground does. D allegations raised by oshiomole are weighty and not one 2b swept under d carpet cos d accused graduated from Harvard. She's accountable 2d people of nigeria and if a representative of d people of edo state asks 4 such accountability, I don't think its out of place. So if u have a defence at least from an okonjo iweala point of view regarding d issues raised by oshiomole, pls share

omenka:
This has been the question on my mind for days now.

If the average price is $108 and we have a benchmark of $79, it means we have $29 going into the excess crude account for every single barrel of crude oil sold. When you multiply this figure by the daily output/export which is put at about 3m barrels, and then by an average of 300 days, the monster in Jonathan's thieving government (corruption) is revealed in all its glory!!!!

Lord have mercy.

You multiply by daily output and get whatever. You think the oil companies work for free. You dont know how much the oil companies get. You dont know how much the fianancial houses that handle the transactions get? When you put 1 million into your account, do you get exacly 1 million out? What about other deductables from the oil revenue that go directly. You guys lost your brains to hatred.

firefox4th:
You mean the 3 - witches !

4 -Diezani

omonnakoda:
That is what happens when people abandon their shops and gatecrash intellectual discussions which they are unequipped for

WORD

AfricanGod2:
My point is that Oshiomole's letter is simply slander and politics. It has valid points here and there but the more I read the more it seemed like Oshiomole feels Okonjo Iweala is responsible for everything in Nigeria, from prevention of oil theft to controlling the exchange rate and safe guarding pensioners. She is not. Oshiomole is playing this blame game now knowing fully well that his state is going to experience a cash crunch like every other state in Nigeria, and his people may be affected, and they may blame him for it. When that time comes he wants to be able to say that he told you so, he told you Okonjo was mismanaging our resources but you didn't listen. Absolute politics.

A real governor should worry about the future of his state. If he knows an individual is at at fault and he has evidence of wrong doing he should quietly take it up with the EFCC for them to worry about, then continue with his state's business. Basically, if this were not mere politics the heading should be something like:

-Financial corruption: Oshiomole and EFCC expose ECA and SWF mismanagement.
-Okonjo Iweala indicted for financial mismanagement.

until then it's all politics and Nigerians keep falling for it.

Am sorry to say but you are intellectualy deficient and suffer from emotional sickness. Your posts are just not worth reading.

PointB:
How much did Oshiomole receive from the ECA, Sure-P and others, how did he utilize these money to the benefit of Edo State economy? Why did Aisha Buhari need to remind us that Edo women are still migrating in their numbers to Italy purveying flesh? Shouldn't Oshimole be explaining how money he received from FG was utilized to impact in the life of citizens of his state?

Isn't that what Okonjo Iweala meant when she published the allocations each state go from the ECA and others? Why blame the Minister when you failed as governor to effectively utilize the money the Minister allocated to his state?

"Governors, are absolute failures in administration and accountability. But, as opposed to you, it's NOI's latest stunts at activism that I see as an effort at deflecting a probe on her failures and improbity. When she released her ECA disbursement records and told us that Sure-P, Subsidy payments as well as equity out-flows were drawn by the 3 tiers of govt on same account, I know many were fooled and sufficiently deceived into demanding accounts from their governors. From Oshiomhole's article, it's clear madam is very far from making full disclosures: accruals are not accounted for; some withdrawals amount to duplication e.g subsidy and sure-p payments; balance is far from accurate; crude oil theft is official! It is my hope that one day, soon enough, these administrators would be brought back to render proper account so we can get restitution for the damage their plunder has caused our country"- ColdFlares1

What is Oshiamolo talking about. Did Edo state not receiveits own share? Did Oshiamole not know that fall in oil prices will mean fall in revenue. The oil marketers are are talking about foriegn exchange differentials. That is how much they paid to get a dollar in the past Vs how much they pay nowadays. Oshiamole knows that Naira was devalued 2 times. Does he not know?

Jesusloveyou:
u like querrel oo, i am not sure u read and understand, read again before u reply me.

Yh, I guess I jumped in too quickly. I'm just irked at these governors looking for someone to blame for low revenues and portraying themselves as impeccable.

PenSniper:
Am sorry to say but you are intellectualy deficient and suffer from emotional sickness. Your posts are just not worth reading.

You're quite the gentleman.

look at comments, now you can see why most of you will be living in hell for another 4 years. How some of you suspend your sense of disbelief is simply unreal.

lexy2014:
I appreciate your write ups. Its quite insightful but permit me 2 vary a bit. NOI is a minister of d FRN. Like u rightly noted she reports 2d president but she is also accountable 2d people of nigeria than govs who are accountable 2 their individual states. Oshiomole represents d people of edo state(who NOI is accountable 2) on NEC. So its not out of place 4 oshiomole 2 demand 4 d figures he demanded 4. Its not about time magazine making her one of d worlds influential persons (shekau is also a Time magazines most influential persons). Graduating from harvard doesn't confer on her automatic "professional credibility". Her work on ground does. D allegations raised by oshiomole are weighty and not one 2b swept under d carpet cos d accused graduated from Harvard. She's accountable 2d people of nigeria and if a representative of d people of edo state asks 4 such accountability, I don't think its out of place. So if u have a defence at least from an okonjo iweala point of view regarding d issues raised by oshiomole, pls share

I don't have any argument in support of Okonjo being innocent of the allegations made against her. I only took issue with the person making the allegations and the manner in which they were made.

And like I've said, Okonjo should be held accountable but there's a difference between holding someone accountable and using someone as scapegoat.

hadura29:
Tooo long ooo... But iweala actually has a lot of explanation though...

You are a big fool!! and all those who quoted you!!

lexy2014:
"Governors, are absolute failures in administration and accountability. But, as opposed to you, it's NOI's latest stunts at activism that I see as an effort at deflecting a probe on her failures and improbity. When she released her ECA disbursement records and told us that Sure-P, Subsidy payments as well as equity out-flows were drawn by the 3 tiers of govt on same account, I know many were fooled and sufficiently deceived into demanding accounts from their governors. From Oshiomhole's article, it's clear madam is very far from making full disclosures: accruals are not accounted for; some withdrawals amount to duplication e.g subsidy and sure-p payments; balance is far from accurate; crude oil theft is official! It is my hope that one day, soon enough, these administrators would be brought back to render proper account so we can get restitution for the damage their plunder has caused our country"- ColdFlares1

Okonjo Iweala herself has stated she's not perfect.

I think it's uncharitable to indeed call NOI publication of the ECA figures as 'activism'. This is not the first time her office has reacted to malicious and downright mischievous claim by the governors, or indeed anyone at that. Clarifying insinuations has been a consistent policy of her office. So calling it activism, or acting out of fear as Governor Oshiomole called it is downright laughable. Actually, Oshimole fits that profile by miles on the basis on this belated rants.

Now to the issue raised by Governor Oshiomole. Isn't it interesting that on one hand Governor Oshiomole claimed that the administration of the ECA fund is shrouded in mystery, while on the other hand he's rolling out figures claiming how the ECA funds was ran? If he doesn't have the details as he claimed, then on what basis is he feeding us with the unsubstantiated figures? What are his sources? Are his claims correct, complete, and accurate? Who corroborates him? Why should I swallow hooks, line, and sinker, the words of a man who started by confirming his ignorance? What kind of people believe a self confessed ignoramus?

Isn't it time we ascertain facts dispassionately, rather than being fickle minded to believe everything we read?

Where was Oshiomole, when NOI stated that a some point, as revenue dropped, allocations to States were augmented with funds from ECA? Is this information true or not? Is Governor Oshiomole also ignorant of the drop in revenue as oil price crashed? Didn't he receive the augmented allocation?

Is also true that State Commissioner for Finance of the various State Government are present at some of those meeting where these decisions were taken? Did Oshiomole debrief his commissioner to get clearer picture? If he didn't, why blame the Minister for his laziness induce ignorance?

Sad...Just so sad.

[quote author=AfricanGod2 post=34166189]First of all, thank you for summarizing.
Second of all if what you've written is correct then you're being unreasonable.

third: Okonjo is a world renowned economist, she is the 48 most powerful woman in the world according to Times and she has immensely more credibility in her profession than the governor calling her a paper economist. In fact the Oshiomle is the quack between the two of them.

Fourth: All this stuff about attending meetings with governors and giving governors slide presentations is so absurd I can't believe someone who claims to be a governor is not ashamed to mention them.
Okonjo works for the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. She does not work for ANY governor and is NOT ANSWERABLE to ANY governor. The man, and any other governor that expects her to stoop to a level less than that of a commissioner for them is silly, lazy, incompetent and does not deserve the title governor. He should go hire a competent commissioner of finance and face the business of govenoring his state.

Only in Nigeria do state "governors" go to the federal government begging like paupers. Only in Nigeria do the finances of states depend so much on the performance of the federal minister of finance. And ONLY in Nigeria do state governors complain like babies when the said minister does not have time for them.[/quote. Thanks for your understanding, thanks for time spent writing this but you are an intelligent illiterate

[quote author=AfricanGod2 post=34166189]First of all, thank you for summarizing.
Second of all if what you've written is correct then you're being unreasonable.

third: Okonjo is a world renowned economist, she is the 48 most powerful woman in the world according to Times and she has immensely more credibility in her profession than the governor calling her a paper economist. In fact the Oshiomle is the quack between the two of them.

Fourth: All this stuff about attending meetings with governors and giving governors slide presentations is so absurd I can't believe someone who claims to be a governor is not ashamed to mention them.
Okonjo works for the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. She does not work for ANY governor and is NOT ANSWERABLE to ANY governor. The man, and any other governor that expects her to stoop to a level less than that of a commissioner for them is silly, lazy, incompetent and does not deserve the title governor. He should go hire a competent commissioner of finance and face the business of govenoring his state.

Only in Nigeria do state "governors" go to the federal government begging like paupers. Only in Nigeria do the finances of states depend so much on the performance of the federal minister of finance. And ONLY in Nigeria do state governors complain like babies when the said minister does not have time for them.[/quote. Thanks for your understanding, thanks for time spent writing this but you're an intelligent illiterate

[quote author=AfricanGod2 post=34166189]First of all, thank you for summarizing.
Second of all if what you've written is correct then you're being unreasonable.

third: Okonjo is a world renowned economist, she is the 48 most powerful woman in the world according to Times and she has immensely more credibility in her profession than the governor calling her a paper economist. In fact the Oshiomle is the quack between the two of them.

Fourth: All this stuff about attending meetings with governors and giving governors slide presentations is so absurd I can't believe someone who claims to be a governor is not ashamed to mention them.
Okonjo works for the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. She does not work for ANY governor and is NOT ANSWERABLE to ANY governor. The man, and any other governor that expects her to stoop to a level less than that of a commissioner for them is silly, lazy, incompetent and does not deserve the title governor. He should go hire a competent commissioner of finance and face the business of govenoring his state.

Only in Nigeria do state "governors" go to the federal government begging like paupers. Only in Nigeria do the finances of states depend so much on the performance of the federal minister of finance. And ONLY in Nigeria do state governors complain like babies when the said minister does not have time for them.[/quote) . Thanks for your understanding, thanks for time spent writing this but you're an intelligent illiterate

Hope when they starts drilling this woman some tribalist will starts making foolish emotional claims

PointB:
Okonjo Iweala herself has stated she's not perfect.

I think it's uncharitable to indeed call NOI publication of the ECA figures as 'activism'. This is not the first time her office has reacted to malicious and downright mischievous claim by the governors, or indeed anyone at that. Clarifying insinuations has been a consistent policy of her office. So calling it activism, or acting out of fear as Governor Oshiomole called it is downright laughable. Actually, Oshimole fits that profile by miles on the basis on this belated rants.

Now to the issue raised by Governor Oshiomole. Isn't it interesting that on one hand Governor Oshiomole claimed that the administration of the ECA fund is shrouded in mystery, while on the other hand he's rolling out figures claiming how the ECA funds was ran? If he doesn't have the details as he claimed, then on what basis is he feeding us with the unsubstantiated figures? What are his sources? Are his claims correct, complete, and accurate? Who corroborates him? Why should I swallow hooks, line, and sinker, the words of a man who started by confirming his ignorance? What kind of people believe a self confessed ignoramus?

Isn't it time we ascertain facts dispassionately, rather than being fickle minded to believe everything we read?

Where was Oshiomole, when NOI stated that a some point, as revenue dropped, allocations to States were augmented with funds from ECA? Is this information true or not? Is Governor Oshiomole also ignorant of the drop in revenue as oil price crashed? Didn't he receive the augmented allocation?

Is also true that State Commissioner for Finance of the various State Government are present at some of those meeting where these decisions were taken? Did Oshiomole debrief his commissioner to get clearer picture? If he didn't, why blame the Minister for his laziness induce ignorance?

As far as this issue is concerned, 3 versions would be least number that can unravel: Oshiomhole's, NOI's and the truth! But in all of these, be assured that my perspective is both rational and without bias. From Oshio baba's article it appears the only thing he is sure of is the withdrawal/disbursement of $4bn. All other analysis are empirically based on a bopd production figure of 2.3m; an average price of $108 per bbl and extrapolated from 2013. I may have to retract the use of the word 'activism' to describe NOI's publication in agreement with your argument that she has been consistent with such action whenever there is a contestation, however holes as highlighted by Oshiomhole and myself should be easy to spot by a discerning mind.

coldFLARES1:
As far as this issue is concerned, 3 versions would be least number that can unravel: Oshiomhole's, NOI's and the truth! But in all of these, be assured that my perspective is both rational and without bias. From Oshio baba's article it appears the only thing he is sure of is the withdrawal/disbursement of $4bn. All other analysis are empirically based on a bopd production figure of 2.3m; an average price of $108 per bbl and extrapolated from 2013. I may have to retract the use of the word 'activism' to describe NOI's publication in agreement with your argument that she has been consistent with such action whenever there is a contestation, however holes as highlighted by Oshiomhole and myself should be easy to spot by a discerning mind.

Thanks for your candor.

And since you agree the truth is out there somewhere, I rather wait for it than continue to postulate.

Okonjo Iweala is on record publicly as saying that funds were used to pay for Oil susidy from the ECA
http://www.punchng.com/news/subsidy-fg-withdraws-n395bn-from-excess-crude-account/

This story is over a year old and it was declared illegal at the time so why are we playing ostrich with what is as clear as the noses on our faces. She was the Minister of Finance and needs to answer who authorized this measure.This is not something Oshiomole is just bringing up.This is part of why there was conflict with the Governors' Forum and why it was useful to create a diversionary schism

.Who authorized this? Oshiomole says it was not appropriated and I am inclined to agree with him because I have followed all supplementary budgets and do not recall such deliberations. In fact it would appear that the FG takes recourse to ECA funds regularly without appropriation. and continued to run a deficit budget.

Again Oshiomole claims that she went to the capital market to borrow money to pay salaries. Is this being disputed?

Again WHO AUTHORIZED THIS AND WHEN WAS IT DEBATED??

Let us deal with these two issues for now

Excess Crude Account: Okonjo-Iweala replies Oshiomhole, says attack “useless”
http://www.premiumtimesng.com/business/183822-excess-crude-account-okonjo-iweala-replies-oshiomhole-says-attack-useless.html

PointB:
Not been able to spot the correlation clearly show your inability to read between the line! Isn't Oshiomole rant a counter-attack at NOI for publishing figures the Governors were allocated from the ECA and such other funds? Has Oshiomole taken his time to explain what he did with the funds he collected? Isn't that what he should explain first before launching his counter-strike, that's if we discount his dodgy eleventh timing?

I didn't know that daughters migrating from home to sell flesh due to economic challenges is classified as "families problem"! Armed robbery, burglary and other allied activities, must indeed be family problems! At least in your bigoted world view!

Whatever is beclouding your comprehension beats me.

The figures rolled out by NOI is clearly a deliberate attempt to confuse
the simplistic and decorous of social responsibility.

The governors position is the ECA and not the entire allocation; they are
different accounts and therefore, should be accounted for separately.
Why is your lord, NOI, giving us the whole allocation received? Get that into
your skull.

There's, i repeat, no correlation between what a family does with their
offspring and the responsibility of the governor. The economy of Edo
state is not responsible for that. No state in Nigeria runs a welfare system.

He even stated that he owes no salary whereas, the FG is borrowing
to finance such things as salary payment. Any reasonably citizen knows that
that is a big debt that can't pay for itself. Yet it makes sense to you.

The Federal Government withdrew the sum of N395bn in 2013 to fund subsidy on petroleum products, the Fiscal Responsibility Commission has said.
http://www.punchng.com/news/subsidy-fg-withdraws-n395bn-from-excess-crude-account/
FRC said this in its 2013 Annual Report and Audited Accounts which was released recently and obtained by our correspondent in Abuja on Friday.

The commission said the withdrawal of the money from ECA to fund the subsidy regime on petroleum products was illegal as it lacked the backing of the law.

The summary of transactions in the Excess Crude Account as of 2013 showed that N50bn was used to fund the subsidy regime in the first quarter of the year. In the second quarter, the sum increased to N110bn.

No money was spent on the subsidy from the account in the third quarter of the year, but in the final quarter of the year, the withdrawal leaped to N235bn, making a total of N395bn withdrawal for subsidy funding within the year.

The Federal Government created the ECA in 2003 as a buffer against volatility in crude oil prices. Proceeds from the sale of oil above the budget benchmark price are paid into the account which belongs to the three tiers of government.

The Fiscal Responsibility Commission said the use of money from the Excess Crude Account to pay for petroleum products subsidy and Petroleum Equalisation Fund was not justifiable by law.

It said, “Funds have been deployed towards payment for petroleum products subsidy and PEF. It is difficult to find justification for this in the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007.”

A tabulation of the inflows and outflows from the ECA for 2013 showed that the fund received a total of N1.01trn while outflows amounted to N1.77trn.

This means that the outflows into the account were N757.13bn higher than the inflows in 2013. In percentage terms, the outflows were higher than the inflows by 74.86 per cent.

Others transactions on the account in the year included augmentation for the three tiers of government which gulped the sum of N1.07trn; and transfer to Special Intervention Fund, N298.98bn.

The report said, “The total inflow into the ECA in 2013 was N1, 011bn while the total outflow from the account was N1, 768.57bn.

“It is clear from Section 35 of FRA 2007 that the EC belongs to all tiers of government. Over the years, the three tiers have, in collaboration, drawn down from the ECA under conditions that are not consistent with the prescription of Section 35 (5) of FRA which states that no government in the federation shall have access to the savings made in the ECA, unless the reference commodity price consistently stays below the predetermined oil benchmark price in the budget for a period of three consecutive months.”

It also faulted the conditions under which the three tiers of government had regularly withdrawn money from the ECA to fund shortfalls in the money shared by the governments during the monthly Federal Allocation Accounts Committee meetings.

It said, “What has typically been the case is that draw-downs occur when there are shortfalls in revenues available for distribution to all tiers of the federation. They are simply used to augment FAAC allocations during periods of revenue shortfalls arising from oil production disruptions due to pipeline vandalism and oil theft.

“Incidentally, such augmentation is not consistent with the provisions of FRA 2007 as the three-month window is not respected. The FRC has not been availed with oil price and volume records to enable it determine the extent to which Section 35 (5) of FRA 2007 is being adhered to.”

In a covering note to the report, Chairman of Fiscal Responsibility Commission, Mr. Victor Muruako, said the agency had helped the government to recover N336bn from Ministries, Departments and Agencies.

He also lamented that the country was losing much money through pipeline vandalism.

Muruako said, “Crude oil projections for 2013 were 2.53 million barrels per day while actual figures averaged 2.3 million barrels per day leading to a shortfall of about nine per cent. This has been blamed on oil theft and pipeline vandalism that resulted in the loss of about 300,000 – 400,000 barrels per day.

“In addition, the government’s revenue from oil sales has been declining in recent years as a result of the changing structure of business arrangements (e.g. from joint ventures to production sharing contracts) and this quantity shock continues to impact on the level of external reserves and ECA.

and you expect us to read this long love poem.... guy?

I don't expect idiotts to read it. I am not that optimistic