₦airaland Forum

Raymond Omachi, the acting chairman of Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC) has stated that the past administration led by Goodluck Jonathan and its Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala mismanaged funds in the Excess Crude Account (ECA).

Although Omachi did not mention names, he frowned at the practice of the federal government to pay subsidy from the ECA or to share to states from the ECA when available funds are not adequate to meet revenue projections.

He said that the ECA was established in 2004 to protect planned budget against shortfalls due to volatile crude oil prices, but that was not how the funds from the account were spent today.

“If the ECA had been properly managed, in accordance with the FRC act, the country will not have been embroiled in the liquidity crisis being presently experienced,” he said on Sunday in Abuja during an interactive session with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

Omachi said that the FRC Act stated that savings from the ECA should not be accessed until oil price falls below the predetermined level for a period of three consecutive months.

He said that the sum accessed should be limited to the amount that would bring the revenue of government to the level contained in its budget estimates.

Omachi, supported by the commission’s management team, said also that the other acceptable withdrawal from the ECA was to fund capital projects.

He said that over the years, the commission had noticed withdrawal that was contrary to this and had raised alarm severally at the way the ECA was being brazenly depleted.

“In essence, the non-compliance with the relevant sections of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007, is the cause of the financial management problem being experienced by the country in the light of the sliding oil price.

“If the account had been intact, the effect of declining oil price will have been accommodated with the ECA buffer to finance the budget,” he said.

Hajiya Maryam Mohammed, the Commission’s Head, Planning, Research and Statistics, said there was need for synergy between the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget Office, Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation and FRC.

Mohammed said that this would enable efficient monitoring and control of all revenue generation and expenditure in the country.

She said that it was lack of synergy that has created loopholes where revenue generating agencies practice creative accounting in order to short-change the government.

Speaking, the Head, Monitoring and Evaluation, FRC, Mr Ola Tijanni, said the recommendation of the Orunsaya report and the White Paper approval to scrap FRC was hampering the work of the commission.

“The FRC has been monitoring schedule corporations in the area of preparation of MTEF, rendition of audited accounts and payment of 80 per cent of their operating surplus to the government consolidated revenue fund.

“In 2013, due to acceptance of government to scrap the FRC, remittances of operating surplus rather than increase, dropped drastically as most agencies are no longer disposed to cooperating with the FRC.

“In light of the foregoing, we make bold to suggest that rather than being scrapped, the FRC should be strengthened and empowered to diligently enforce the provision of the FRC Act,” he said.

It would be recalled that Governor Nasir El Rufai of Kaduna state also stated that the ECA was created by the government of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo for the ‘rainy days’.

http://saharareporters.com/2015/07/05/jonathan-okonjo-iweala-mismanaged-eca-funds-%E2%80%93-frc-boss

.

But i thought it was the governors that made him share the ECA.

These APC people are more interested in baseless witch-hunting than in running the country and economy.

What the FRC boss failed to tell the reading public is that the ECA fund was jointly shared by the three tiers of government at every points in time, but instead situate the blame solely on the Jonathan led FG.

eph12:
But i thought it was the governors that made him share the ECA.

[b]Soludo said " I hereby challenge your attempt to blame others for not saving for the rainy day. It is not a virtue when you are quick to appropriate all the credit when things are going well, but shift the blame when they go wrong. You blame the state governors— who, according to you, have taken the Federal Government to the Supreme Court—not that a Supreme Court judgment forced your hands. For your information, the governors have never agreed to savings and always threatened court action even under Obasanjo. Why did we save under Obasanjo but not under Jonathan? Two keywords explain it: leadership and integrity. Governor Amaechi said the governors insisted on sharing the funds because they found out that you were illegally fiddling with the savings. So, as Nigerians still wonder, if billions of dollars are now ‘missing’ under your nose, why should governors trust you to keep their money? Do the states that have taken the federal government to the Supreme Court and refused to save also include the PDP governors—who are in the majority? If so, then it is fatal: even governors of your own party, PDP, do not trust you to keep their money! Furthermore, did the governors also stop the Federal Government from saving part of its share? If you ran a surplus budget at the Federal level, you would have had credibility to blame others or to say they did not listen to your advice. The key point is that since you were running huge deficits yourself, it was also in your own interest to share the ECA. You did not show leadership or credibility, full stop!"

http://dailypost.ng/2015/02/02/charles-soludo-ngozi-okonjo-iweala-missing-trillions-1/
[/b]

Jonathan and Iweala sef

Demdem:
[b]Soludo said " I hereby challenge your attempt to blame others for not saving for the rainy day. It is not a virtue when you are quick to appropriate all the credit when things are going well, but shift the blame when they go wrong. You blame the state governors— who, according to you, have taken the Federal Government to the Supreme Court—not that a Supreme Court judgment forced your hands. For your information, the governors have never agreed to savings and always threatened court action even under Obasanjo. Why did we save under Obasanjo but not under Jonathan? Two keywords explain it: leadership and integrity. Governor Amaechi said the governors insisted on sharing the funds because they found out that you were illegally fiddling with the savings. So, as Nigerians still wonder, if billions of dollars are now ‘missing’ under your nose, why should governors trust you to keep their money? Do the states that have taken the federal government to the Supreme Court and refused to save also include the PDP governors—who are in the majority? If so, then it is fatal: even governors of your own party, PDP, do not trust you to keep their money! Furthermore, did the governors also stop the Federal Government from saving part of its share? If you ran a surplus budget at the Federal level, you would have had credibility to blame others or to say they did not listen to your advice. The key point is that since you were running huge deficits yourself, it was also in your own interest to share the ECA. You did not show leadership or credibility, full stop!"

http://dailypost.ng/2015/02/02/charles-soludo-ngozi-okonjo-iweala-missing-trillions-1/
[/b]

True i agree with you that the Jonathan govt mismanaged public funds but the governors that some of us selectively praised did same too. Read somewhere some time back that a governor awarded a contract for two boreholes at the sum of #165million. But all this is past though. What's the way forward should be the question every reasonable Nigerian should be asking not dwelling in the past.

Madam dey laff Raymond she go dey talk say this Boy Raymond Stewpid oooo

RockMaxi:

How far guy, is it a comprehension problem or you didn't bother to read at all.

Just because you "read" X, does not mean X is true.

What is FRC Who is GEJ ALL IZZ WELL

I have said it several times- Madam puffpuff cheeks just might be a bigger crook than Opolo Eyes.

Time will tell.

relax people! why do you think buhari is decongesting prisons in maiduguri and yobe?