Commissioners of Finance and Accountants General of the 36 states of the federation on Tuesday distanced themselves from claims by the former Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, that they were part of the decision to withdraw and spend $2bn from Nigeria’s excess crude oil revenue accountlast December.Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole, and his Kaduna State counterpart, Nasir El Rufai, had, after the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting in Abuja on Tuesday last week, accused Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala of unilaterally approving the withdrawal of about $2.1 bn fromthe $4.1 bn left in the Excess Crude Account (ECA) last November “without authorization”.But in a swift reaction, the formerMinister had vehemently rejectedthe accusation, describing allegations linking her to the allegations as “false, malicious and totally without foundation”.Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala’s reaction, conveyed through a statement byher Media Adviser, Paul Nwabuikwu, said all expenditures from the ECA “were discussed at meetings of the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) attended by finance commissioners from the 36 states”.“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,” she said.But in a stern reaction on Tuesday in Abuja, members of the FAAC, under the aegis of the Forum of Commissioners of Finance, disowned the former minister, describing her claim as “misleading and far from the fact”.“It has come to our notice the statement credited to the former Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Honorable Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, that the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) approved the withdrawal from Excess Crude (Foreign) Account the sum of Two Billion U.S. Dollar ($2,000,000,000.00),” the commissioners said.“This statement is far from the fact and is misleading,” the statement said.The FAAC meeting for November 2014 ended in confusion when the then Minister of State for Finance, Bashir Yuguda, could not explain how the balance in the ECA had dropped from $4.1 bn at the end of October to $3.1 bn.Prior to the October FAAC meeting, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala had told reporters that the balance of the ECA stood at$4.11bn, while the country’s external reserves rose from$36.6bn in June to $39.48billion as at October 16.Regardless, the then Chairman ofthe Forum of State Commissioners of Finance and former Ebonyi State Commissioner of Finance, Timothy Odaah, had denied knowledge of any decision to withdraw from the account, insisting that none of its members was aware of the withdrawal.“No state knew how the $1 bn difference reported in the Excess Crude Account balance, between October and November, came about,” Mr. Odaah told reporters then. “The discrepancy has been noted for discussion at the next FAAC meeting. It calls to question how transparent the management of the excess cruderevenues has been.”Till the end of his tenure, Mr. Odaah, who later claimed reconciliation was ongoing with the Finance Minister, did not reveal his findings.However, several months later, Mr. Oshiomhole stirred the controversy afresh last week with the allegation that the former minister was economical with the truth about the country’sfinances.Mr. Oshiomhole had lambasted Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala over her claims that Nigerians knew whatthe three tiers of government usually collect through the State Finance Commissioners who usually attend the monthly FAAC meetings.The power to take money from the ECA, Mr. Oshiomhole argued, is vested in the NEC, an institution created by the constitution, and not State Finance Commissioners, who arenot known by the constitution.In disowning Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala, the Commissioners’ Forum pointed out that the law setting up FAAC, which predates the ECA, “cannot approve withdrawal and has not done so in the past.”If anything, the Commissioners said, records of FAAC meetings show that members have alwaysqueried the activities on the ECA, and therefore did not decide any withdrawal.Although the Commissioners said they observed the withdrawal of $2bn from the ECA in December 2014, the then Minister of State Finance and Chairman of FAAC, Mr. Yuguda, had explained during plenary that approval came from former President Goodluck Jonathan.The withdrawals were to help pay subsidy claims to oil marketers, who had threatened to stop importing petroleum products.“FAAC did not and could not haveapproved, nor took the decision to withdraw the sum of Two Billion U.S. Dollar ($2,000,000,000.00) from the Excess Crude Account,” the Commissioners said.
http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/186229-faac-disowns-okonjo-iweala-denies-approving-withdrawal-of-2bn-excess-crude-funds.html

NOI should just keep quiet already.

"It calls to question how transparent the
management of the excess crude revenues has been.”Till the end of his tenure, Mr. Odaah,
who later claimed reconciliation was ongoing with the Finance Minister, did not reveal his
findings."






Lol, e don set !!! They are noe denying n distancing themselves, una never start .more is still to come.
Thout people said the puff-puff face woman was running a transparent ministry?

Dassol....

PDP e- warriors still going 2 defend these people seriously how do u guy sleep? Most of u forget that your life doesn't end on nairaland, everything u say defending lies, will be used against you in future when you are to hold a position in Nigeria, just like what Gbajabiamila facing in the house now

..wonda who's lying now














Anyway......FTC...HURRRAY!!!!!

Gban e don happen

Double wahala for deady body.

Only a fool will underestimate the level of corruption that existed in the GEJ government

I just wish this boko are rams issue would be taken care of asap so we could start seeing those thieves some deluded ones see as their heroes, get jail terms and return funds back to the federation account... When oshiomole was talking about the funds she and other Tanoids called him several names now the truth is finally coming out.

jaytee01:
Only a fool will underestimate the level of corruption that existed in the GEJ government

I dey tell u..

Don't they have minutes or something cos surely they must have recorded all the proceedings of their meetings in writing

I guess this is the real smoking gun

Afterall stealing was not corruption then









Even you iya oni gele

It defies imagination how people could steal billions of dollars as if it were naira.

You steal all the money and don't care about the rest of the poor people, including your own workers.

What do you want them to do?

To go and beg their neighbours for leftover food?

How wicked could Okonjo-Iweala and GEJ be?

These people are the real enemies of Nigeria.

Once the major players disagree in a manner like this, it simply means there is fraud somewhere and someone is desperately trying to cover it up.

There is no way the withdrawal of such a gargantuan amount of money wouldn't come with a lot of paperwork. Whose signatures were on those documents?? That is what we need to know. And if the papers don't exist, then both Okonjo and the players from FAAC should be made to face the full wrath of the law.

Had their "hero" accidentally won this election as well, not a whiff of this info would have reached us.

Criminals.

We are still in ministry of finance you guys are crying. By the time pmb opens the file of ministry od petroleum, na BLOODU we go SHARE

Where dem dey ehhhhh. Oya come and defend ur paymasters again. Its fun watching you look like and act like a fool. Nothing will prevent NOI from facing d full wrath of d law. As for froggY four eyes, just go and buy new eyes cos d one u av now won't save u from jail.


Interesting times ahead.



Cc: wailingwailers.