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FG, states to pay salaries from $1.4bn ECA

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Of the $2billion reportedly left in the nation’s Excess Crude Account (ECA) the federal government and the 36 states have agreed to share $1.7billion, in efforts to pay salaries being owed civil servants in some states

After the amount, which is about N391billion, is shared, there will be only about $.3billion remaining in the account which was created to help the two tiers of government save for rainy days.

The newly appointed Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, made this known in Abuja on Monday, at the end of the briefing session by permanent secretaries of the Ministries with President Muhammadu Buhari.

Idris told reporters, that after receiving briefings from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and the office of the Accountant General of the Federation, Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC would soon meet to distribute the amount agreed by the states and approved by the NEC meeting last week.

At the end of the FAAC meeting for the month of May 2015, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance, Anastasia Daniel-Nwokobia, said the balance in foreign denominated ECA stood at about $2.078bn.

She did not say what the balance in the naira denominated ECA was.

Idris said, “The position is very clear, what we met on ground is what we are going to distribute,” he said. “What we met on ground is hovering between $1.6 bn to $1.7 bn, and that is what we are going to distribute among all the three tiers of governments based on the approved formula.”

The AGF said President Buhari’s view on the issue is clear, particularly regarding his administration’s desire to achieve “prudent management of resources” and the need for states to identify alternative revenue generating sources as well as manage available “meagre resources” for the betterment of the economy.

In her briefing notes, Mrs. Daniel-Nwokobia, had said the country’s finances were in a good state, despite challenges posed by the drastic drop in global oil prices from an average of $100 per barrels to about $58 per barrel on Monday.

With the value of the naira currently hovering between N199 and N230 to the dollar in the parallel market, she said government was doing its best to ensure continued stability of the economy.

Read also: FG illegally withdrew N395bn from ECA to fund subsidy

“The state of the Nigerian finances is still okay, although we (government) still go through challenges of dwindling revenue stream to government. As you know, as a result of the oil shock, the price of oil has dropped; it has significantly reduced the revenue stream to government. But, we are working in other ways to see how we can shore up the revenue, so that we will be able to meet our expenditure,” she said.

Mrs. Daniel-Nwokobia denied reports of massive looting in the ministries, departments and agencies as a result of the absence of ministers, describing it as “an unfair allusion to make without evidence”.

“It is an unfair statement to make. If people have evidence that there is large-scale looting going on, they are free to come with such information. The Freedom of Information Act allows them to ask questions,” she said.

On the impact of the absence of ministers as appointed political heads, the Permanent Secretary said it was nothing to bother about, as the civil servants still formed the bulk of the government’s engine room, adding that government was a continuum.

“Even without political heads, the engine room of the service is the civil servants, who have continued to do the work to move government forward,” she said.

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