Minister
of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the economy, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has
described the widely published comment by Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo
State alleging that about $30 billion was missing from the Excess Crude Account
as shocking and totally untrue.
While
speaking during the recent visit of the Association of Enigies of Edo South to
him, Oshiomhole had alleged that what Nigeria ought to have in the Excess Crude
Account should be over $30 billion “but as we speak, we have barely $3 billon”
in the account.
Okonjo-Iweala,
in a statement on Friday by her media aide, Paul C Nwabuikwu, said Oshiomhole’s
comments “reflect, once again, the unfortunate tendency of some political
players to politicize the management of the economy on the basis of half-truths
and sundry distortions. This is not good for the country. There should be a
limit to negative politics even during an election season such as this.”
She
said Oshiomhole’s sweeping comments gave the impression that the federal
government sits alone in secret and doles out whatever it wishes to the states
from the Federation Account.
The
statement continued: “But anyone who is familiar with the Federation Accounts
Allocation Committee (FAAC) process knows that this is simply not true. The
meetings are held every month and commissioners of finance and other officials
represent their states and agreements are reached on issues including the
sharing of proceeds from the Account.
“There
is no $30 billion missing from the Excess Crude Account as alleged by
Oshiomhole. How can such a huge amount be missing from the ECA and the Edo
State governor will be the only one privy to this? It is instructive that the
Edo State Government did not table this allegation before FAAC for
investigation or clarification before going public with a sweeping, political
allegation based on casual, back of the envelope calculations.
“Governor
Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State made a similar allegation in November last year
when he raised a loud alarm that $5 billion was missing from the same Excess
Crude Account. But the Federal Ministry of Finance subsequently showed, with
facts, that not only was the money not missing, the Rivers State Government got
N257.6 billion from the Account between January and October 2013. Oshiomhole’s
allegation seems to be cut from a similar political fabric.
“Oshiomhole
correctly observed that the economy would be in better shape today if we had
saved more for the rainy day. But he failed to recall that the Federal
Government’s strong advocacy for a low budget benchmark and greater savings in
the ECA articulated by the Coordinating Minister was repulsed by some
governors. There is no doubt that oil theft is a challenge but this too would
have helped.
“We
do not share Oshiomhole’s overly bleak view of the country’s economic
prospects. Yes, the challenges are great and cannot be wished away but as
Moody’s, the international ratings agency and the IMF confirmed recently, the
economy is resilient despite the oil price crash and we retain some advantages
as we confront these challenges.”
During
the visit of the Association of Enigies of Edo South to him, Oshiomhole
alleged: “Over the past 18 months, we have not shared the excess crude account
and yet, the account is empty. Sometimes we are told they have taken money from
it to fund subsidies including subsidy on kerosene but your royal highnesses,
there is nowhere in your various domains where kerosene is sold for N50. So in
the name of subsidy, large sums of money are being stolen.
“Things
are tough now around the country because the federal government mismanaged our
national resources and what is being stolen, nobody agrees it is being stolen.
What is arguable is who is responsible for this stealing. When the federal
government and the president talk about oil theft and the amount that is allegedly
stolen is huge such that whereas we have the capacity to produce about 2.4
million barrels a day, what accrues into the federal government account is less
than 1.8 million barrel a day.
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