Govs’ forum to Ngozi: Account for $20 billion

State governors have asked the Minister of Finance Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to give account of over $20 billion which is supposed to be in the excess crude account.They made the demand in a communiqué at the end of their meeting in Abuja Monday night.The communiqué was read by Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, who hosted […]

State governors have asked the Minister of Finance Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to give account of over $20 billion which is supposed to be in the excess crude account.
They made the demand in a communiqué at the end of their meeting in Abuja Monday night.
The communiqué was read by Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State, who hosted the meeting at his official residence in the federal capital.
“In light of the fact that funds in the excess crude were last disbursed in May, 2013, there is need for the minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to provide explanation to this account from June 2013 to April, 2015 which is estimated at $20bn,” the communiqué said.
The excess crude account was created by former President Olusegun Obasanjo to hold oil revenues above the budget benchmark.
However, on several occasions the governors have accused the federal government of dipping its hands into the account without their approval.
The two parties are now in court over the legality of the account.
Responding to the governors yesterday, the finance minister said the governors had no reason to demand for the amount in the excess crude account.
She said in the interest of transparency and accountability, and to throw more light on this issue, the Federal Ministry of Finance would publish details of the ECA for the last four years within the next few days. 
The minister said through her spokesperson, Mr Paul C Nwabuikwu that the statement by the governors was totally strange because FAAC met every month and the ECA was discussed at every session with all the state Commissioners of Finance present.
She said: “At these meetings the Honorable Minister of State who is the Chair of FAAC announces the balance in the ECA which is then discussed. So 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. Details of the ECA are also published every month along with the allocations to the three tiers of government.”
“The reference to June 2013 in the statement is probably because the National Economic Council last met in May 2013. But this is immaterial because the FAAC meetings during which the ECA and similar issues are discussed have generally held regularly every month.
“It is interesting that Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State who was reported to have read the communiqué on behalf of the governors made a similar unsubstantiated allegation in November 2013 that $5 billion was missing from the ECA. We subsequently showed with facts that not only was the amount not missing, Rivers State received N257.6 billion from the Federation Account between January and October 2013, the second highest among the states, of which N56.2 billion from the Excess Crude Account was a part.”
The Governors Forum which became factionalised for most part of last year yesterday reconciled and re-united as a single umbrella association.
Governor Abdullazeez Yari of Zamfara State emerged as new chairman by consensus to serve for a period of one year.
The forum also congratulated the president-elect General Muhammadu Buhari on his victory at the 2015 general elections.