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I’m ready for probe, Okonjo-Iweala tells NEC

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In from Ali Smart…
The former Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has refuted claims of spending $2.1 billion out of the Excess Crude Account “without authorisation” and has agreed to face any enquiry over the allegation.
Okonjo-Iweala was reacting to Monday’s claims by some governors after the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting in Abuja.
Her media minder, Paul Nwabuikwu, in a statement stated that “the allegation by some governors that former Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala spent $2.1 billion out of the Excess Crude Account “without authorisation” is false, malicious and totally without foundation.”
In the statement which reads in part Nwabuikwu said “no unauthorised expenditure from the ECA was made under Okonjo-Iweala’s watch in the Finance Ministry. Decisions on such expenditure were discussed at meetings of the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) attended by finance commissioners from the 36 states.”
Against this background, Okonjo-Iweala maintained that the idea that she “spent $2.1 billion ‘without authorisation’ is simply not credible given that details of government receipts and expenditure are public knowledge.”
The former minister asked how “some governors who fought Federal Government’s efforts to leave robust savings in the ECA and even took the Federal Government to court over the matter turn around to make such unfounded allegations?”
The statement said “it is curious that in their desperation to use the esteemed National Economic Council for political and personal vendetta, the persons behind these allegations acted as if the constitutionally recognized FAAC, a potent expression of Nigeria’s fiscal federalism, does not exist. Nigerians know that collective revenues, allocations and expenditures of the three tiers of government are the concern of the monthly FAAC meetings.”

Read Also: Okonjo-Iweala reveals how FG, states shared N6.2tn ECA funds

Okonjo-Iweala in the statements said she acknowledges “the efforts of governors who are working hard to overcome the current revenue challenges facing their states without resorting to character assassination and blame games.”
However, the former Minister said she “is ready and willing to respond to legitimate enquiries about issues under her purview as Finance Minister. But it is clear that this is the latest chapter of a political witch-hunt by elements who are attempting to use the respected National Economic Council for ignoble purposes having failed abysmally in their previous attempts to tar the Okonjo-Iweala name.”
Okonjo-Iweala and her team lamented that “one of such attempts took place in May when some of these governors, hiding under the auspices of the Nigerian Governors Forum asked Okonjo-Iweala to explain $20 billion alleged to be missing from the same ECA.”
The Finance Ministry said she subsequently issued a news release and published an advertorial in national newspapers on May 25, 2015 giving details of what the Federal Government and states received from the ECA in the last four years. It also provided details of the use of the funds for payment of petrol subsidies for the Nigerian public and SURE-P allocations to the three tiers for development purposes.
Okonjo-Iweala said she “pioneered the practice of publishing monthly updates of all allocations to different tiers of government in order to empower Nigerians with information and knowledge of government revenues and expenditure. This enabled the Nigerian public to ask questions about the utilization of these resources. Of course many elected and appointed public officials were not happy with this development.”
She said she continued this practice when she returned in 2011 and even added periodic updates on the Excess Crude Account, subsidy payments for verified claims by oil marketers for fuel imports as well as SURE-P payments to the three tiers of government.

Read Also: Me afraid of Buhari? Never, says Okonjo-Iweala

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