NOI: Governors got N2.92tr from ECA in 4 years

Five days after Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, minister of finance and coordinating minister of the economy, promised that the ministry would publish details of the excess crude account (ECA) for the last four years, the information has been made public.

Paul Nwabuikwu, her special adviser on communications, released a statement late Sunday, revealing that the federal and state governments shared a total of  N6. 21 trillion from the ECA between 2011 and 2015.

A breakdown of the sum collected by the state governments were N966.6 billion in 2011, N816.3 billion in 2012, N859.4 billion in 2013 and N282.8 billion in 2014.

Okonjo-Iweala had promised to disclose ECA details after the Nigerian governors forum (NGF) alleged that $20 billion being accruals of the excess crude account (ECA) from May 2013 till April 2015, was unaccounted for.

The minister dismissed the allegation, asking the governors to consult their commissioners of finance if they needed clarification.

“The statement by the governors is totally strange because Federal Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC), meets every month and the ECA is discussed at every session with all the state commissioners of finance present,” she had said.

“Nothing is hidden. At these meetings, the minister of state, who is the chairman of FAAC, announces the balance in the ECA which is then discussed. Governors who want any information about the ECA should ask for details from their commissioners who should have the records of what was discussed and agreed upon.”

From the figures released, five states, including Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Delta, Bayelsa, Kano and Lagos top the list of highest recipients with N265 billion, N230.4 billion, N216.7 billion, N176.3 billion, N106.5 billion and N82.9 billion, respectively.

While Kwara, Enugu, Gombe, Nassarawa, Ekiti and Ebonyi states received the lowest allocations of N52.8 billion, N51.6 billion, N47.7 billion, N46.9 billion, N46.8 billion and N44.3 billion respectively.

The balance of the ECA as at May 2015 was put at $2.07 billion.

The statement added that the summary of the inflows and outflows from the account shows that the opening balance was $4.56 billion in 2011 and reached a peak the following year at $8.7 billion before declining to $2.3 billion in 2013.

The fluctuation was attributed to the sharing of the proceeds usually requested by state governors as well as the practice of augmentation which involves additional sharing from the ECA when available funds are not adequate to meet revenue projections.

The ministry noted that Subsidy and SURE-P payments were also made from the account.

Below is a breakdown of the allocations.