The National Economic
Council, chaired by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, on Monday accused a former
Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy under ex-President
Goodluck Jonathan, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, of spending $2.1bn from the Excess
Crude Account without authorisation.
“We looked at the
numbers for the Excess Crude Account. The last time the former Minister of
Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala,
reported to the council, and it is in the minutes, she reported by November
2014 that we had $4.1 bn.
“Today, the
Accountant-General Office reported we have $2.0bn. Which means the honourable
minister spent $2.1bn without authority of the NEC and that money was not
distributed to states, it was not paid to the three tiers of government,” Edo State
Governor Adams Oshiomhole told State House correspondents after the NEC’s 58th
meeting in Abuja.
The ‘unauthorised’
spending, according to the economic council, is among the several anomalies
discovered in the management of the nation’s economy between 2012 and May 2015.
Within the period, the
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation was said to have earned a total of N8.1
tn but remitted only N4.3tn.
Consequently, the
Federal Government has constituted Oshiomhole, Kaduna State Governor, Nasir
el-Rufai; Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Emmanuel; and Gombe State Governor,
Ibrahim Dankwambo, into a panel to probe the NNPC and the ECA between 2012 and
May, 2015.
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