₦airaland Forum

Whynotthetruth:
1)Governors NOT saving is an issue because FG isn't a grassroot government...but states & LGA are...

2)If governors saved like Anambra state did...Osun state won't become like an IDP camp...Amosun won't be hiding bailout fund...Rochas won't be stealing owing Imo like this...And Nigerians won't be guiding pot of soup with the expertise of FBI, DSS, etc put together

3)ECA savings was used to pay SUBSIDY...a national burden which states didn't want to partake in...why?...But same folks refused subsidy removal...

4) Okonjo-Iweala takes instructions from FG who's her employer not governors...And subsidy payment from ECA was agreed in FAAC meeting which involves ALL states commissioners of finance ...So how did anybody betray anybody's trust here biko? ...NEC which governors attend isn't empowered to discuss sharing of ECA but advisory body for economic policy formulation...FAAC which is empowered to discuss such did the deliberations wholly pertaining to ECA savings snd sharing ...

anonimi:
Let me indulge you fully.
Less than 3% means it is more than 2% and most likely more than 2.5%.

Using 2%, we have a total of 72% for the 36 states, not so?
That leaves only 28% for the federal government and the local government, abi?

Using 2.5%, we have a total of 90% for the 36 states.
That leaves only 10% for the federal government and 774 LGAs.

You see that your LIES have caught up with you.



www.nairaland.com/attachments/2881064_23015862301371mrbeaninotellupng25c4955d40e3462_png058f85876085f9171ace8711304fe9b0

Whynotthetruth:
3)ECA savings was used to pay SUBSIDY...a national burden which states didn't want to partake in...why?...But same folks refused subsidy removal...

TheGoodJoe:
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... Prof. Soludo

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/176097-soludo-replies-okonjo-iweala-accuses-her-of-forging-national-economics-statistics.html

anonimi:
[size=14pt]Tinubu Tackles FG, CBN On Excess Crude Oil Sales Account[/size]
Feb 22, 2001




https://www.osundefender.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/TINUBU.jpg




The Lagos State Governor, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, yesterday joined issues with the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CB N) over the recent face-off between the different tiers of government on the excess crude oil sales reserve account of US$ 1. 8 billion which is about N198 billion.

Expressing concern at the impression being created that the economy is rudderless, Tinubu argued that the central issue transcends the release or non-release of the fund into the Federation Account.

In his words: “The fundamental issues and principles at stake go much deeper. They are more broadly about the rule of law and the supremacy of the constitution on one hand, and the need for cooperation and coordination in a true federal structure, as a basis for sustaining and strengthening our fledgling democracy on the other hand”.

Governor Tinubu [size=14pt]disagreed with the CBN's position that release of the excess crude reserves to the states and local governments, though legitimate, [/size]would lead to inflation; cause a rundown of the nation's foreign reserves; weaken the exchange rate further and run counter to agreements reached with the IMF.

The Governor contended that "in a period of excess capacity and low purchasing power, there should not be undue inflationary pressures from an injection of funds into the economy. Instead, such a development should be beneficial to economic activity and growth, despite the fact that there are supply rigidities and inefficiencies which would limit the potential benefits”.

On the purported likely impact on foreign reserves, Tinubu argued that "in an import-dependent economy such as ours, it is inevitable that an upturn in the level of economic activity would engender a fall in foreign reserves. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Rather, it would be immoral to appear to be building up high foreign reserves in the midst of grinding poverty”.

He stressed further that if the N198 billion released is matched by an equivalent US$1.8 billion, there should not be a fall in the value of the Naira as the supply of dollars would be in place to match any increased demand”.

Tinubu also said it would be unfair for the federal government to agree unilaterally to commit revenues due to other tiers of government, to an agreement with the IMF or anyone else.

Attributing inflationary pressures in the economy largely to the federal government's overspending and printing of money to finance such expenditure, Tinubu said "It is hardly fair for the FGN to overspend and then seek to correct the inflationary effect on the economy by starving other tiers of government of their rightful funds”.

Stressing that there is no basis for CBN or any authority to flout the constitution and deny states and local governments their own share of the Federation Account, Tinubu noted that "the excess crude reserve account is itself an illegality, carried over from the military era, as there is no provision in the law or the constitution for federally - collected revenues to be diverted to such an account”.

Advocating constructive dialogue on the management of the economy Governor Tinubu said "it is time for us to sit down and dialogue about how to move from where we are now, to where we need to get to, while respecting true federalism in fiscal and other matters”.

From: http://asiwajubolatinubu.com/archives/news/2001/02/22/20010222N01.html

anonimi:
That was why the 36 state governors wanted subsidy removed but Jonathan's political inexperience made him take on the matter instead of letting the governors carry the can as well.
All the FAAC/states allegations of unaccounted ECA money was for paying subsidies that they would rather share thus creating fuel scarcity.



www.nairaland.com/attachments/2606941_fuelsubsidygovernorssupport2011d_jpegc347aadcc28645a881c11e877b19ae27

TheGoodJoe:
[b][size=14pt]FAAC disowns Okonjo-Iweala; denies approving withdrawal of $2bn Excess Crude funds[/size]

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.


"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.[/b]

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/186229-faac-disowns-okonjo-iweala-denies-approving-withdrawal-of-2bn-excess-crude-funds.html

Unimaginable123:
Politicians shaa. Jonathan's administration is just last year o. Not like the man is dead and forgotten. And these bold faced lies

anonimi:
The keywords should rather be lawless versus law-abiding.

anonimi:
The Association of ProgreTHIEF Criminals, APC is all about LIES, propaganda and falsehood.
No more, no less!


www.nairaland.com/attachments/3356469_screenshot20160131120000_jpeg639beaec46d4ced684f639998a489af2

Whynotthetruth:
I will amswer you using your own link...

1)From your link; the man who issued the statement did this; ..."Till the end of his tenure, Mr. Odaah, who later claimed reconciliation was ongoing with the Finance Minister, did not reveal his findings."...

2) Oshiomole who didn't know the limitations of his power smd functions of NEC claimed it is NEC that has power to authorize withdraw from ECA... unfortunately for him, ECA is not known to Nigeria Constitution...and NEC is an advisory body empowered to do economic policy formulation not ECA discussion or sharing authorization...

3)And because ECA isn't known to Constitution, Mr Odaar played smart by saying; ..."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.” ...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.

4)In keeping with his oath and duties of office to protect interest of Nigeria and Nigerians, Jonathan did this;..."The withdrawals were to help pay subsidy claims to oil marketers, who had threatened to stop importing petroleum products"....

5)Did Jonathan has right to do what he did? Yes... Constitutionally, he has the right and power...

Whynotthetruth:
I will amswer you using your own link...

1)From your link; the man who issued the statement did this; ..."Till the end of his tenure, Mr. Odaah, who later claimed reconciliation was ongoing with the Finance Minister, did not reveal his findings."...

2) Oshiomole who didn't know the limitations of his power smd functions of NEC claimed it is NEC that has power to authorize withdraw from ECA... unfortunately for him, ECA is not known to Nigeria Constitution...and NEC is an advisory body empowered to do economic policy formulation not ECA discussion or sharing authorization...

3)And because ECA isn't known to Constitution, Mr Odaar played smart by saying; ..."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.” ...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.

4)In keeping with his oath and duties of office to protect interest of Nigeria and Nigerians, Jonathan did this;..."The withdrawals were to help pay subsidy claims to oil marketers, who had threatened to stop importing petroleum products"....

5)Did Jonathan has right to do what he did? Yes... Constitutionally, he has the right and power...

TheGoodJoe:
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and GEJ armed the governors by using the money from the ECA without accountability.

Bringing Tinubu into this is cheap and low.

The point you tried to evade is simple. Would the governors collect the money if GEJ and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala acted with integrity? No.

scribble:
https://www.karensperspective.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/dollar_rain.jpg



Dollarization Of The APC Primaries: How Amaehi Vanquished Atiku #saibuhari

The blogosphere was inundated with reports of the excessive sharing of dollars at the All Progressives Congress which took place during the latter part of last week.

One APC supporter and Special Adviser to Osun Governor on Environment, BolaIlori had blown the scandal open after he saw the beginning stages of the dollarization in action.

He took to his Facebook page and scribbled, “Crazy things are happening here!!! Some of these cannot represent the change Nigeria is yearning for. Excessive dollarization by one of the aspirants to is to say the least obscene. I have been involved in political process for decades now, I have never witnessed this volume of raw dollarization of party primaries. I only read about this kind of things in PDP primaries. A question been asked by conscientious delegates is that whoever can be giving out between $2000 to $5000 to…delegates certainly does not represent the kind of change Nigerians want…those who contributed to the pauperization of Nigeria now revel in dollarization… majority of Ondo delegates are still standing with Buhari but have been reduced from 85% to 70% within 24 hours…the remaining has gone with dollars ooo.!!!!!”

One has to wonder how Buhari was able to win the primaries in this era of stomach infrastructure where dollars are like the Biblical manna that God sent down from heaven to nourish the Israelites as they made their way to the promised land.

Sources close to the APC with knowledge of the way the Primaries unfolded have revealed that it was Rivers State Governor, Amaechi who flew back to Rivers State and returned to Lagos on Thursday morning with enough dollars to make Benjamin Franklin blush.

It has been revealed that Atiku offered the delegates $5000 each, but Amaechi doubled it to $10000 a pop. Thus turning the tables in favour of General Buhari.

Since his adventure into the APC, Amaechi has gone out of his way to prove himself a party loyalist, always the first to shoki or azonto at the many events the APC holds, which he himself is usually the chief sponsor.

According to party insiders, Amaechi has overtaken Tinubu as the major financier of the party. One does not need to wonder why he is always at President Jonathan’s throat over misappropriated oil wells or other such business. Anything that diminishes from the State’s coffers will have a ripple effect on his funding budget for the APC.



Joe Francis wrote in from Port Harcourt.


http://www.theheraldng.com/dollarization-apc-primaries-amaehi-vanquished-atiku-saibuhari/

The governors took the FG to court because they had proof the FG and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala took money without appropriation.

TheGoodJoe:
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... Prof. Soludo

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/176097-soludo-replies-okonjo-iweala-accuses-her-of-forging-national-economics-statistics.html

Whynotthetruth:
Are we arguing to learn and unravel truth or for what purpose?

1)Governors were under threat during OBJ term and whoever raised his voice was removed from office without qualms...and there was lawlessness...Is that what you call leadership and integrity ...And unfortunately, Buhari is trying to do some by what happened in Edo...are sane at all in this country?

2)Did anybody take OBJ to court on ECA as APC governors did to Jonathan? and won him both in federal cum Appeal court and headed to Supreme court...before he called them back for political settlement which is the sharing of greater percentage of ECA savings...

Are we averse to truth or what?

TheGoodJoe:
This takes us back to the Amaechi quote in the OP's article.

During Goodluck Jonathan, every month when the governors went for the economic council meeting, the amount in the account kept dropping.

If we asked about what happened to the money, the response we got was that the president approved for it to be spent.

This was why the governors asked for their share because the government was not saving it.

FG, States, LGs Share N568.4 Billion for Oct
15 NOVEMBER 2013


https://cdn.pmnewsnigeria.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Ngozi-Okonjo-Iweala-.jpg



Also, $1billion was proposed for distribution to complement shortfall in expected revenue." The $1billion is a compromise by the FG over its words in September not to augment shortfalls anymore.

Responding to the presentation, the chairman of the States Commissioners of Finance and Ebonyi State Commissioner of Finance, Mr Timothy Odaah, lamented that the statutory allocation was getting smaller and smaller. "It appears this is the worst in terms of returns. This is the least in allocations as far as this year is concerned. We are mourning the dearth of funds and this is a wakeup call for states and local governments to buoy up their internally generated revenue."

While appreciating the "magnanimity" of President Goodluck Jonathan to approve the $1billion from the excess crude account and to be shared among the federal, state and local governments, Odaah expressed disappointment with the returns made by the NNPC.

He said that [size=14pt]the states had requested for $2bn[/size] to complement for the shortfall in revenue but got only $1billion. In September, Odaah and fellow commissioners had walked out of the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) when the federal government said that the framework of the 2013 budget was no longer realistic and it won't augment shortfall in revenue. Odaah raised issues with the statutory allocations of previous months.

More from: http://allafrica.com/stories/201311150323.html

anonimi:
The news item below proves otherwise.

TheGoodJoe:
The governors from day one did not want to save the ECA, they could not win in court because OBJ treated the ECA with respect and showed integrity.

anonimi:
[size=14pt]N10.8b Lagos funds released[/size]
2007-07-24



https://media-1.web.britannica.com/eb-media/07/109007-004-228FA03C.jpg


LAGOS State won yesterday its four- year battle for its seized local government funds. The struggle ended quietly, with the President directing the Accountant-General of the Federation to immediately release the N10.829,527,300.43 (N10.8 billion) withheld by the Obasanjo administration.

The amount to be remitted, however, falls short of the state’s expectation.

The fund, which had been subject of court cases and mediation, was withheld by the past administration, following the creation of 36 new local governments in Lagos State.

The insistence of the state not to yield to the directive of the Federal Government to cancel the new local governments attracted the withholding of funds meant for the 20 existing local governments.

At the height of the tussle, the state reversed the creation of the local governments but this did not appease the former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, who was bent on holding back the funds, even with the Supreme Court’s pronouncement that the money be released.

The seizure of the fund, according to former Lagos State Governor Bola Tinubu caused untold hardship.

President Umaru Yar’Adua’s directive to the Accountant-General yesterday, according to presidential spokesman Olusegun Adeniyi, follows his (the President’s) consultations within the agencies and institutions of the government.

He was also quick to add that the amount to be remitted fell short of what Lagos was demanding.

Explaining the difference, Adeniyi said: "the Federal Government is paying the exact amount withheld, excluding interest, as demanded by the state government.

"Lagos was asking for interest, which is not going to be granted because the money was not put into an interest-yielding account. But the important thing is that the President sought the opinions of all the relevant ministries on whether it is legal to hold this money and they all said that it is illegal. So, why do we hold on to it?"
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.
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Yesterday’s release of withheld local council funds by the Federal Government brought to an end a constitutional impasse.

The Federal Government under the leadership of former President Obasanjo in 2003 withheld allocations to the 20 local governments following the creation of additional 37 council areas and elections into them on March 29, 2003.

The Federal Government cited unconstitutional recognition of the additional council areas as well as failure by the state government to revert to the 20-council structure for with holding the funds.

The Tinubu administration got victory at the Supreme Court, which ordered the government at the centre to pay even as the court saw nothing unusual in its judgement in the change of nomenclature of the new councils to Local Government Development Areas (LGDAs).

While the impasse was on, the committee of Yoruba Elders, led by former Attorney-General and Justice Minister Prince Bola Ajibola, intervened to broker truce after the seized monthly allocation had accumulated to more than N34 billion.

In February 2006, the Federal Government released N20 billion to Lagos State, which was paid in two tranches. The money was shared among the 20 councils listed in the constitution.

The N20 billion left the councils with a balance of N14 billion, which the Federal Government did not release.

Tinubu advised the council authorities to give preference to public school rehabilitation, health care delivery and roads.

Tinubu in May 2006, described the action of the Federal Government as "inhuman".

He said: "The council funds have not been paid. It is over N14 billion. It is illegally in the possession of the Federal Government. It is creating savings by force. This is in gross violation of the Supreme Court ruling and the agreement by the elders.

‘But we are moving on; we will continue to govern our state with serious commitment and the values we believe in. We will get back the money. It is due to us. They are just keeping it. Anytime the President likes, he will pay.

So, it is inhuman, to further keep the money, not only because it is illegal, it is denying those innocent people, children, very poor people, the right to their money. It is a matter of conscience."

More from: http://www.thenationonlineng.net/archive2/tblnews_Detail.php?id=26054

TheGoodJoe:

This takes us back to the Amaechi quote in the OP's article.

During Goodluck Jonathan, every month when the governors went for the economic council meeting, the amount in the account kept dropping.

If we asked about what happened to the money, the response we got was that the president approved for it to be spent.
[color=#000099]
This was why the governors asked for their share because the government was not saving it.lor]

TheGoodJoe:
I am not talking APC, PDP. The politicians do not feel the harsh effects of the economy like the ordinary citizens.

This is about wastage of our resources and not party. The elections are over.

anonimi:
What has law and constitutionality got to do with you SAYING how Ebola Owu treated the ECA?
The same Ebola Owu who withheld the LGA funds for Lagos state, right
He was simply a lawless bully.

anonimi:
The issues are still relevant.
Do you have any allergy to historical facts being shared to dismantle the LIES you are trying to spread

TheGoodJoe:
That does not state that the ECA was not dropping. That does not state the FG handled our reserves with integrity.

Whynotthetruth:
It seems you're now talking for just sake of talking...

Go back to same Amechi speech and see where he accepted at the end that the fund taken away was for subsidy payment...and Coincidentally, governors didn't want to join FG in payment of subsidy...and they can avoid this only by ensuring that FG doesn't keep their money...