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Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
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Five
days after Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, minister of finance and coordinating minister
of the economy, promised that the ministry would publish details of the excess
crude account (ECA) for the last four years, the information has been made
public.
Paul
Nwabuikwu, her special adviser on communications, released a statement late
Sunday, revealing that the federal and state governments shared a total
of N6.21 trillion from the ECA between 2011 and 2015.
A
breakdown of the sum collected by the state governments were N966.6 billion in
2011, N816.3 billion in 2012, N859.4 billion in 2013 and N282.8 billion in
2014.
Okonjo-Iweala
had promised to disclose ECA details
after the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) alleged that US$20 billion being accruals of the excess
crude account (ECA) from May 2013 till April 2015, was unaccounted for.
The
minister dismissed the allegation, asking the governors to consult their
commissioners of finance if they needed clarification.
TheCable report continues:
“The
statement by the governors is totally strange because Federal Accounts
Allocation Committee (FAAC), meets every month and the ECA is discussed at
every session with all the state commissioners of finance present,” she had said.
“Nothing
is hidden. At these meetings, the minister of state, who is the chairman of
FAAC, announces the balance in the ECA which is then discussed. Governors who
want any information about the ECA should ask for details from their
commissioners who should have the records of what was discussed and agreed
upon.”
From the
figures released, five states, including Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Delta, Bayelsa,
Kano and Lagos top the list of highest recipients with N265 billion, N230.4
billion, N216.7 billion, N176.3 billion, N106.5 billion and N82.9 billion,
respectively.
While
Kwara, Enugu, Gombe, Nassarawa, Ekiti and Ebonyi states received the lowest
allocations of N52.8 billion, N51.6 billion, N47.7 billion, N46.9 billion,
N46.8 billion and N44.3 billion respectively.
The
balance of the ECA as at May 2015 was put at US$2.07 billion.
The
statement added that the summary of the inflows and outflows from the account
shows that the opening balance was US$4.56 billion in 2011 and reached a peak the
following year at $8.7 billion before declining to US$2.3 billion in 2013.
The
fluctuation was attributed to the sharing of the proceeds usually requested by
state governors as well as the practice of augmentation which involves
additional sharing from the ECA when available funds are not adequate to meet
revenue projections.
The
ministry noted that Subsidy and SURE-P payments were also made from the
account.
Below is a breakdown of the
allocations:
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