Excess Crude Account And Missing $5bn

In response to allegations of a missing $5bn
from the Excess Crude Accounts, the
Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala explained that the said amount had been shared to the three tiers of government.
The Minister said the sharing of the $5bn was to make up for the revenue shortfalls during the Federation Accounts Allocations Committee process and that part of the fund also went for SURE-P payments and the balance for subsidy payments to oil marketers.
The explanation of the minister, The Tide believes has ruffled more feathers than expected. This is more so because proceeds of the excess crude account belongs to the three tiers of government and not open for the Federal Government to spend at will, besides it is meant to be kept as future savings in a stabilization account.
Going by the explanation of the Finance Minister there seems to be flagrant abuse of process, more worrisome is the huge amount involved and the express disregard for the National Executive Council (NEC) decision on the use of the funds.
Contrary to some outcry, the issue may not be one of fraud, but the failure on the part of the Federal Government to obtain the support of the States before funds in the account could be touched.
We believe that the handling of the fund is suspicious and capable of providing an excuse for future financial recklessness. To serve as a deterrent, circumstances leading to this unapproved withdrawal should be probed and those behind it brought to book.
We think that the matter should not be reduced to a mere quarrel between the Minister and some Governors. The National Assembly should wade into the matter and bring about order in the way the finances are managed in Nigeria.
Like the finances of the SURE-P Committee, if funds under the Excess Crude Accounts fail to follow laid down procedure, a number of things can be wrong; considering the position of the National Executive Council which had been that such savings be made for the rainy day and not to be shared in the manner the Honourable Minister now seems to suggest.
While we believe that the Federal Government may have made the withdrawal with the best intention, the need to follow laid down rules should never be compromised, especially on things that are jointly owned. Indeed, people in government should lead in bringing to an end the culture of impunity in Nigeria.
Because of the hurry to tamper with the Excess Crude Account, which is the proceed from crude oil sales, in excess of what was budgeted for, some people have tended to disagree with the Finance Minister. In fact, they want to know the actual accruals from oil between January and March 2013.
While no state has denied collecting the enhanced allocation as claimed by the Finance Minister, Nigerians would truly want to know what warranted the withdrawal of $5bn at the time they did and why it was not brought to the attention of the States before.
Even so, the apparent face-off between the States and the Federal Government cannot be in the interest of the country. The attendant loss of confidence and the recourse to mud-slinging and name-calling at every opportunity cannot be supported.
Like it is said in some quarters, “matters of money are not matters of fancy, but matters of fact,” we expect that all persons saddled with the responsibility of managing public money from the Federal to Local Government must be cautious and guided by the law. That people do not speak up does not mean they don’t know that public officers sometimes go beyond their mandate in appropriating public money.