₦airaland Forum

barcanista:
The Contentious $2 billion
November 17, 2014
As at October 2014 the balance in the ECA was $4billion. While announcing government austerity (as a result of the sharp drop in oil price) in November, the former finance Minister made it clear that the FG will tap $2billion from the ECA.

“We will work in such a way that we won’t deplete the ECA because we have to leave something for next year but we might go to tap about a half of it ($2bn) or slightly less than half to be able to meet expenditures that are crystalising at the moment that we need to make.”(Ngozi Okonjo Iwaela Nov 2014)
www.punchng.com/news/oil-slump-fg-unveils-austerity-measures/

ECA Balance As At November and December 2014
At the end of November 2014 the Accountant General of the Federation informed FAAC and Nigerians that the ECA was $3.11billion and in January 17 2015 the balance was announced to be $2.4billion. $1 billion was deducted in November and another in December 2014. The Governors were well aware including Mr. Adams Oshiomole.
www.businessdayonline.com/2014/12/nigerias-revenue-again-slumps-n36-6bn-as-eca-depletes-to-3-1bn/

The $2 billion Paid To oil Marketers
January 2015
The Minister in January 2015 clearly stated that the reduced $2billion went to the oil marketers as part payment for outstanding PMS subsidy bill. Remember that the government of Jonathan through Okonjo Iwaela had pre-informed the FAAC that $2billion will be deducted from the ECA in November.
www.premiumtimesng.com/business/175125-nigerias-excess-crude-account-2-45-bn.html

When the GEJ's government made the said announcement in January this year nobody said a word. Yesterday Madam NOI said the Former President approved the withdrawal of the $2billion to as part of subsidy payment, is it not in line with the FG position in November 2014? Was Oshiomole sleeping all these period? Why then will Gov Oshiomole ask NOI how the money went like he was in exile between 2008 and 2014?
If the Governors are saying that FAAC needed to make approval before deduction then why didn't they mentioned it in November 2014 when FG informed them of the proposed withdrawal?

I want to appeal to Nigerians to watch this APC administration very carefully. They are aware that they have NOTHING to offer and are determined to hoodwink Nigerians via baseless accusations and propaganda to make up for their own failure. If the Govs have any case against the FG withdrawal of $2billion without their authorisation, they should face the FG and Not officers of the government. Government is a continuum, Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iwaela has no case to answer.


God Bless Us All
Ramadan Kareem To Muslim Faithfuls

PassingShot:
[s][/s]
You must have been sleeping all this while not to know that the president has directed all remittances to be sent to a single FG's account.

When you make small sense, I will oblige you. When you don't, you know the treatment you will get.

Zoharariel:
Town Crier, open & digest the link below & shut the f.uck up!

Stop portraying Jonathan as a saint - Asshole!

www.punchng.com/news/jonathan-rains-dollars-on-south-west-obas/

socialmediaman:
2. http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/01/55bn-got-wrong-fg-replies-obasanjo/

If you cant read the complete text, look for the quoted below from NOI:
5.

http://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/122214/what-difference-between-revenue-and-income.asp#ixzz3fO2AmzEJ

This little puppy below has something for you

Sincere9gerian:
My dear, I dey o. I just dey watch as the so called govt of "change" don transform to govt of confusion.
Meanwhile, we're enjoying your handwork. Well done!

socialmediaman:
2. http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/01/55bn-got-wrong-fg-replies-obasanjo/

If you cant read the complete text, look for the quoted below from NOI:
5.

http://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/122214/what-difference-between-revenue-and-income.asp#ixzz3fO2AmzEJ

This little puppy below has something for you

Mogidi:
Go back to the ediots section you fagg..got.

Whynotthetruth:
1)You're too childish for running down write ups by others...what stops you from making your point without such stuupid act...grow up boy...

2)Kindly state the due process here taking cognizance of the constitutional powers of NEC...and how any law was breached here...

3)Kindly show too if FAAC had the constitutional right to sanction withdrawals from ECA...and to what extent such law was broken by Jonathan/NOI...

4)From which source is subsidy funds gotten?...Was NEC informed about the withdrawal from ECA pre-buhari term?...what was the stance then?...

nduchucks:
This post smacks of both intellectual and moral bankruptcy.

In your mind, since there is no section of the constitution which states that FAAC must approve the withdrawal of ECA funds, then it is OK for 2 people, the President and Iweala to withdraw $2billion without due process, and potentially, fraudulently divert some of the funds toward unauthorized use, ko?

By the time the investigations are over, and the money trail is followed, you'll find out that no special laws are needed to prosecute these people for theft, fraud, conspiracy and a host of other crimes. When investigations reveal that some of the money was diverted to fund GEJ's campaign, it'll become clear to you that constitutional provisions or not, your people may be headed to jail.

I'm ashamed of the OP who is also asking for the quotation of the constitutional provision which renders the said withdrawals a crime. The crime here is fraud, theft, embezzlement, betrayal of public trust, money laundering e.t.c. which we do not need special laws to guard against.

The days of robbing the nation of its resources with impunity are over. It is time that some big fish started paying for their crimes or refund the stolen loot, for a softer landing.

barcanista:
It is clear that you don't know the meaning of budget and appropriation by the NASS. Smh...

dBard:
Tnx..just trying to understand both sides.
Point taken, but if that is so, what stops the president using it as his personal 'go to' account Cos, this is where I n probably a lot of odas have issues.
If d FAAC was set up to checkmate this n yet money(s) are withdrawn without their approval, then what's d justification in that? And d burden of proof lies on her t prove d payments.
Appreciate d response.
Cc: barcanista

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.

Governor El Rufai said the excess crude account was established by the Olusegun obasanjo’s administration.

It was part of the administrative arrangement to save for a rainy day. He said it was meant to have very clear accountability so that every state and the local government at any point in time know the balance in the account.

He said that before any money would be spent from the account, the Federal and States needed to agree.

“That was how we agreed to build the seven power stations that are NIPPs today.

“We also met and agreed to build the Lagos-Kano Standard Guage Railline from the account; but what we have seen in the last few years is that the account is being operated unilaterally by the Federal Government.

“Drawings were being made without consulting those that actually own the money,“ he said.

The account is 52 per cent under the FG and 48 per cent owned by the states and the local governments. (NAN)

Mogidi:
The embolden is why no rationale person debates with you.

obailala:
$16billion right?... but your hero GEJ spent even more than that. Are you aware that virtually all the plants commisioned by GEJ were started and progressed to advanced stages by obj with the same $16 billion you talk about?... Are you aware that GEJ did not start a single new power plant?.... Are you aware that GEJ privatised our power generation plants yet he still spent more government money on these privatised plants than OBJ spent?

How many megawatts did GEJ add to our entire power generation capacity in his 5 year misrule?

vecman22:
Why are you jumping some question??

Thought you are wise?? Fo*l

adadadon:
1 You can make a point without behaving like an uncultured intern
2 The ECA is maintained between the 36 governors and the president what happens when the president unilaterally decided to spend from the account without recourse to the NEC which are the true owners
3 My point and barcanista/Iweala should stop bringing FAAC into this because they have no jurisdiction
4 The stance before then was Jonathan/iweala were spending the ECA extravagantly

dammytosh:
I am aware of that conversation .

That is the reason i don't give any credence to the TOWN CRIER . HIS LONG POST and HIS GULLIBLE SUPPORTERS who knows nothing about his antecedence.

obailala:

Now something striking was revealed in this your research. So you mean OBJ actually saved ECA funds of up to $20billion? Wow!

OBJ met a nation with a foreign reserve of $5.4billion but he grew this figure to well over $40billion by the time he left office. He also saved ECA funds of $20billion and this same man also paid off Nigeria's external debt of $12billion (after negotiating it down from over $30billion in his numerous foreign trips). Lest I forget, the average oil price in the tenure of OBJ was $38 per barrel as against the $100 per barrel average in the reign of GEJ.

Meanwhile, Obasanjo who achieved the above is the same man we all called (and still call) 'useless thief' and Ota monkey while we go ahead to defend, praise, glorify and immortalise his successors who crashed our entire reserves in a space of 5 years when we had an economic boom. How can any right thinking society do this?... why is the black man like this for God's sake?

I have learnt a lesson in life that it takes you to meet a devil before you can truly identify who the angels are. OBJ deserves an apology from Nigerians.

PassingShot:
What is in that article?

Crappy and very watery which is only capable of deceiving gullible ones like you.

barcanista:
As at August 2010 the ECA was meagre N450 million (N70billion). Where do you think the N6.21 trillion shared between 2011 and 2014 came from? Where do yu think the $2billion used for subsidy and balance $2billion come from? How can you say GEJ didn't generate then? Na common sense thing... How much did Yar'adua remain $6.5 billion which is just slightly above N1trillion. Common sense should tell you that all the N6.21trillion was generated by GEJ in addition to the $2billion leftover and $2billion used for subsidy.

Perhaps the N6.21trillion that was shared was generated by Buhari.

Whynotthetruth:
1)You're the Blackman who lacks critical thinking...so go ahead with your household and apologise to Obj...Do you know the cost of his private university and presidential library alone?...what's his salary and allowance package?

2)What was minimum wage of workers under Obj?...What is it now?...

3)How was fuel queue under Obj? ...How was it subsequently?... Was it a magic or function of extra funding?...

4)How was insurgency under Obj?...How was it subsequently?... Was the war funded and fought catapult and stones?...

let me stop here...just call me after apologising to him

sammhi:
the truth is ECA is an illegal account..the FG KNOWS HENCE THEY USUSALLY OPT OUT OF COURT...so they can share some and keep some ...
ECA is not in the constitution ...it was created buy OBJ for the purpose of cajoling Nigerians to give him third term...he had plans not to use the money for Nigerians but for his own selfish gain..if not , why would any sane ruler keep 20bn $ in an illegal account and yet we lack some of the most basic infrastructure... people are dying of hunger etc

obailala:
I was specifically referring to the myopic, ethnic sentiment driven people who keep painting GEJ as a saint and OBJ as a devil. Those people (probably you inclusive) should be apologising to OBJ.

As for me, OBJ does not deserve my apology; I still think he was a bad president but GEJ was 100 times worse than whatever OBJ could ever be.

obailala:
Oh my God!.. not again!.... Did you say Railway system?... refurbished 1960 trains is what you call a working rail system?.. How does refurbishing 1960 rail tracks account for the monumental drop in foreign reserves and other funds when the country experienced massive oil boom?

Good roads where?... Benin Ore road?... Where were you before 1999 before Obj came to power?... Are you aware that that same road was fixed all the way from Warri up to Okada (after Benin) before Obj handed over?... Are you aware that OBj even built the 'brand new' Benin by-pass which helps travellers to totally avoid the massive traffic they experience inside benin city?... Jonathan fixed a stretch of the road on the approach to Ore and this was commissioned as a massive achievement, meanwhile it was someone else who built the entire road in the past.

Or is it the Abuja roads or the east-west road?.. kindly mention the road that was started or completed by GEJ in the entire nation for him to claim that he gave Nigerians good roads?... Propaganda is such a terrible brainwasher and a destroyer of minds. It still surprises me that the juju placed on Nigerians in terms of believing GEJ did plenty roads has still not cleared up till now from the eyes of some people.

No new industries?... Are you aware of the massive employment created by the telecommunications and the banking industry under OBJ?... Are you aware that OBJ single handedly gave Nigeria a middle class?.... If only OBJ decided to deceive himself and advertise his achievements with half the kind of media and publicity GEJ employed, we would have still had billboards of his endless achievements still mounted on Mars.

As for Power generation, can you mention how many megawatts of electricity GEJ added to Nigeria in his entire 5 years?.... And also, can you please name a single power plant which was started by GEJ?... Are you aware that even up till 2015, all the power plants commissioned by GEJ are actually projects started by OBJ and progressed to an advanced stage before they were abandoned by their contractors who looted the remaining monies?... Are you aware that those projects were funded by the same $16billion dollars we accuse OBJ of squandering?... Now this may be a big one, are you aware that GEJ spent more than the $16billion which OBj spent for power, but this was even after the power plants were all privatised but still yet, we could not still get up to an additional 1000mw in his entire tenure... and this my friend is what you want to compare to OBJ?... How can people so easily allow themselves to be deceived by these senseless lies?... Tell me please, what did GEJ do for power generation?

You say GEJ built 12 new universities but are you aware it was mainly more of 'upgrades' and not necessarily new institutions?... They convert polytechnics, college of educations etc to universities, all that was done was a change of name and I am still yet to understand how that accounts for the several billions of dollars lost from our foreign reserves at a period of unprecedented economic boom when we should have had increases in our reserves.

I just still cannot fathom how any one at all can still think that GEJ was a good or a better president than OBJ even with all the shortcomings which are very obvious. In terms of handling the economy and increasing GDP, OBJ beat GEJ (remember it is the telecommunications industry weof OBJ that led to Nigeria overtaking SA in terms of GDP). In terms of job creation, OBJ beat GEJ totally . In terms of adding to our power Riis, OBJ beat GEJ hands down (how I wish a similar power probe will be instituted to expose the monumental waste in the power gesector in the last 5 years). The only area GEJ may have beaten OBJ is in agriculture and lest I forget, in the proliferation of corruption - GEJ was weak and indecisive and for this reason, everyone under and around him kept looting Nigeria blind without GEJ batting an eyelid or probing a single person.
Ed y
I just pray God opens your eyes to see this one day.

adadadon:


How does this change the fact that Okonjo Iweala did not follow due process/Formal procedure or receive authorization while withdrawing the money to pay for subsidy ??
[b]Finance commissioners from the 36 states of the federation have denied granting approval for the withdrawal of $2 billion from the Excess Crude Account (ECA) as alleged the former minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
Okonjo-Iweala had last week said that the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) approved the withdrawal of $2 billion from the ECA.
However, the Forum of Commissioners of Finance, a body comprising finance commissioners from the 36 states who are members of the FAAC, in a statement yesterday, said it was unaware of such approval, adding that the FAAC does not have powers to grant such approval.

“We wish to state unequivocally that the FAAC does not have the authority to approve withdrawals from the ECA and therefore could not have approved the withdrawal of the sum of $2 billion from the Excess Crude (Foreign) Account. According to the law setting up the FAAC, which pre-dates the ECA, it cannot approve withdrawal and has not done so in the past. If anything the FAAC, as records of it meetings indicate, had often queried the activities on the ECA, and therefore did not decide any withdrawal,” the statement reads in part.

The commissioners stated that “indeed, the FAAC noted and observed accordingly the withdrawal from the ECA of a total sum of $2 billion in December.
“The then minister of finance and chairman of the FAAC when asked during the plenary of the FAAC meetings of the respective months explained that the former president gave approval for the withdrawals from the ECA to pay oil marketers subsidy claims as they had threaten to stop importing petroleum products. [size=32pt]According to her, he further explained that this action will be ratified by NEC.[/size]”[/b]
http://www.punchng.com/news/eca-faac-faults-okonjo-iweala-denies-approving-2bn-withdrawal/

obailala:
I was specifically referring to the myopic, ethnic sentiment driven people who keep painting GEJ as a saint and OBJ as a devil. Those people (probably you inclusive) should be apologising to OBJ.

As for me, OBJ does not deserve my apology; I still think he was a bad president but GEJ was 100 times worse than whatever OBJ could ever be.

emmatok:
That's why NOI must be probed, she was with OBJ when those great things happened and she followed GEJ to destroy everything.

Demdem:
Fool, u sound daft like the goon u are trying so hard to support. Who told u that it must come from ECA? Does the NASS itself has power over the ECA at all? The ECA belongs to the FG, States and LG. If the estimate exceeds what it was envisaged to be, a supplementary budget will have to be raised in that regard and alternate sources will be looked for and not ECA. Was ECA designed to be paying Fuel subsidy?

nagastat:
Whether the funds were withdrawn in phases like a rat chirping away at a tuber of yam in nibbles or the rat transforming an carry away the whole yam at once.
The fact still remains that the FAAC did not approve of it. The FAAC non approval was usurped.
If the FAAC recommendations on the said fund can be usurped and unilaterally upturned at will then how can there ever be accountability and due process.

Truth234:
The analysis you did just show the level of misappropriation of past administration but before I get to that I have these questions how was Obasanjo administration able to saved $20 billion in ECA and yet all Yar'adua led Jonathan administration was doing is depletion of the ECA without replenishing?

Your analysis emphasized how the $6.5 billion ECA left by Yar'adua administration was shared you didn't mention how much was generated in revenue during GEJ administration, all you did was analysis how they shared what was left of Yar'adua administration. You said you will be objective and critical of the situation, please I will like to know why was GEJ administration sharing what was left of our ECA when oil price peaked above $100 for the first time?