Zainab Ahmed, minister of finance, budget and national
planning, says state governors, in consultations with the national economic
council (NEC), are aware of withdrawals from the excess crude account (ECA).
Ahmed said this on Wednesday at the end of the federal
executive council (FEC) presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.
In a communiqué issued at the end of the federation account
allocation committee (FAAC) meeting for July, the federal government said the
balance in the ECA dropped from $35.37 million to $376,655 in June, without
providing further details.
ECA is the difference between the market price of crude oil and the budgeted price of crude oil in Nigeria’s budget.
It was established in 2004 by the federal government to save
for rainy days, stabilise the country’s economy and smooth out the impact of
price volatility in oil exports. Since its creation, the ECA has been the
subject of controversies and allegations of corruption.
She said the governors, who are joint owners of the
accounts, were aware of the withdrawals.
The minister explained that the account has had no accruals
in the last four years because of the volatility of the commodity in the
international market, adding that withdrawals have always been in consultations
with NEC.
“The last approval
that was given by the council was the withdrawal of $1 billion to enhance
security,” she said.
“We have been utilising that — the last tranche of that has
been finally released because deployment to security agencies is based on the
contracts executed and it’s been used strictly for that security purpose.
“So, the utilisation of the account is with the full
knowledge of the governors.”
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