Buhari To Recover Stolen Money In Three Months …As VP Heads Committee On Excess Crude Fund Sharing

Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike Addressing Rivers Civil Servants in Port Harcourt on Monday

President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday in Abuja assured state governors that the days of impunity, lack of accountability, and fiscal recklessness in the management of national resources are over in Nigeria.
Speaking at a meeting with the governors in the Presidential Villa, Abuja, yesterday, President Buhari also vowed that funds stolen by government officials who abused their offices in the recent past will be recovered and systemic leakages stopped even as he promised immediate lifeline from the Excess Crude Account to governors whose states were owing many months of unpaid workers salaries.
In statement issued shortly after the meeting, and signed by Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, quoted that president as saying that, “There are financial and administrative instructions in every government parastatal and agency. But all these were thrown to the dogs in the past. Honestly, our problems are great, but we will do our best to surmount them.
“The next three months may be hard, but billions of dollars can be recovered, and we will do our best,” the President told the governors.
Expressing surprise that the governors had tolerated the atrocities allegedly committed with the Excess Crude Account since 2011, President Buhari promised to tackle the issue decisively.
The President declared that the payment of national revenue into any account other than the Federation Account was an abuse of the constitution, adding that what he had heard was going on in many agencies and corporations, particularly the NNPC, was clearly illegal.
On the refund of monies spent on federal projects by state governments, President Buhari assured the governors that the Federal Government will pay, but insisted that due process must be followed.
The President promised special assistance for the three North Eastern states badly affected by the Boko Haram insurgency.
He also said that a comprehensive statement on the economic and financial situation inherited by his administration will be made to the nation within the next four weeks.
“We will try and put the system back into the right position. What happened in the 2nd Republic has apparently happened again, and even worse, but we will restore sanity to the system,” President Buhari assured the governors.
On an immediate lifeline for states that owe salaries running into many months, President Buhari said that a committee headed by the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, will look at the Excess Crude Account and see what can be shared immediately.
The governors, led by Chairman of the Governors Forum, Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State, had presented a wish list to the President that included, obedience of extant Supreme Court ruling that all monies go into the Consolidated Federation Account; an order from the President that all revenue generating agencies must pay into the Consolidated Federation Account; and a review of the Revenue Allocation Formula.
Others include the refund of the monies expended by states on federal projects; a special consideration for the three states of the North East under Boko Haram infestation; as well as full details of the amounts that accrued into the Excess Crude Account from 2011, and how the money miraculously shrank without official sharing.
Zamfara State Governor and Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Abdullaziz Yari, who briefed reporters after the meeting, said that instead of the bailout they requested, the state governments were told to look inwards and generate needed funds to clear their debts.
Giving other details of the meeting, Yari said the state governors also requested that the Nigerian Liquefied Gas Company’s tax should be paid into the Federation Account and be shared.
They also asked the Federal Government to ensure that monies accruing from the Federation Account should be shared, as stipulated by the constitution, Yari further disclosed.
It is the first time President Buhari would be meeting with the governors to find a solution to the financial crisis that has made no fewer than 23 of the states owe salaries to their workers to the tune of N100 billion (about $5million).
Other issues in the front burner include how to curb insurgency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states and what the president is doing in collaboration with the international community.
The governors also expressed concerns over the decision to dismantle military check points, stressing that it was not the right time for such decision.
He said: “In our meeting today with the President today, we identified the problems and we are working towards addressing, solving the problems and not how to share money.
“At least, we need to work faster and rescue (the economy) and I want you to note that the economic crisis is not limited to the states.
“The states are not as bad as that. We made this very clear to the President that the total debts of the states, including the Federal Capital Territory, is N658 billion when put together.
“But the domestic debt of the Federal Government is N5.5 trillion. Therefore, we appreciate that all of us are in a problem.
“The Federal Government cannot pay salaries of its Ministries, Departments and Agencies and the states cannot pay salaries of teachers and other workers.“
Gov. Muhammed Abubakar of Bauchi State, who also addressed the correspondents, dismissed the perception that their meeting with the President was to share monies among the three tiers of government.
According to him, the meeting is to enable the President and the governors to share ideas.
He said: “Let us understand first and foremost that the meeting was not about sharing. The meeting was about cross-fertilisation of ideas between the President and the governors of the various states of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“And if you hear about ‘sharing‘, all we are saying is we are operating under the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“If you heard anything ‘sharing‘, it refers to the excess crude account and you know that as at today, the excess crude account has been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
“So, the issue is not all about sharing and in fact, we have come to assure Mr President that in our own individual rights, in our states, we are taking action to assuage the situation.
“We are blocking loopholes; we are trying to stamp out corruption so that the business of government will be done in accordance with extant rules.“
Some of the governors present include those of Rivers, Nasarawa, Imo, Gombe, Benue, Delta, Niger, Kano, Katsina, Zamfara, Kogi, Borno, Jigawa,  Ogun, Kebbi, Kwara, Taraba, Ekiti, Ondo, Kaduna, Oyo, Osun, Edo, Anambra, Sokoto, Ebonyi, Lagos, Adamawa, Cross Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Yobe, Plateau (deputy), Bayelsa (deputy).