$30bn not missing, FG replies Oshiomhole

credits: File copy
The Federal Government has described as
untrue the allegation made by the Governor
of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole, that the
sum of $30bn (N5.04trn) was missing from
the Excess Crude Account.
The Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-
Iweala, said in a statement issued on
Saturday by her Special Adviser on
Communications, Mr. Paul Nwabuikwu, that
the allegation was “shocking.”
Oshiomhole had on Thursday accused the
Federal Government of failing to account for
about $30bn that accrued to the ECA in the
last three years.
The governor had said Nigeria’s budgets for
the past three years had been based on an
oil benchmark of $77 and $79, while the
average price of the country’s crude had
been $108 per barrel.
This, according to the governor, gives an
average surplus of $30 per barrel.
“Ideally, we ought to be saving $36 per
barrel on the 2.3 million barrel a day over
the past three years and if you look at
these numbers, you will find that what we
have in our excess crude oil account should
be over $30bn but as we speak, we have
barely $3bn in our excess crude account.
“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,”
he said.
But Okonjo-Iweala described the allegation
as “totally untrue.” saying, “the comments
reflect once again, the unfortunate
tendency of some political players to
politicise the management of the economy
on the basis of half-truths and sundry
distortions.”
The statement read in part, “The widely
published comment by Governor Adams
Oshiomhole alleging that $30bn is missing
from the Excess Crude Account is shocking
and totally untrue.
“This is not good for the country. There
should be a limit to negative politics, even
during an election season such as this.
“Governor Oshiomhole’s sweeping comments
give the impression that the Federal
Government sits alone in secret and doles
out whatever it wishes to the states from
the Federation Account.
“But anyone who is familiar with the
Federation Accounts Allocation Committee
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.”
The minister wondered why the government
of Edo State did not table the allegation
before the FAAC committee for
investigation before “going public with a
sweeping, political allegation based on
casual, back of the envelop calculations.”
Okonjo-Iweala stated that the Governor of
River State, Rotimi Amaechi, made a similar
allegation in November 2013 when he raised
the alarm that $5bn was missing from the
same account.
The statement added that the ministry
subsequently showed, with facts, that not
only was the money not missing, the Rivers
State Government got N257.6bn from the
account between January and October 2013.
Oshiomhole’s allegation, Okonjo-Iweala
added, “seems to be cut from a similar
political fabric.”
“Governor 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 Governor Oshiomhole’s
overly bleak view of the country’s economic
prospects,” the statement added.
The ministry added that while the challenges
were great and could not be wished away,
an international rating agency, Moody, and
the International Monetary Fund had
confirmed that the economy was resilient
despite the oil price crash.