Zainab Ahmed, the Minister of Finance, Budget and Planning, has said governors, in deliberations with the National Economic Council (NEC), are aware of withdrawals from the Excess Crude Account (ECA).
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that Ahmed stated this on Wednesday at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) chaired by her principal, President Muhammadu Buhari.
Recall that in a communiqué issued at the end of the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting for July, the Muhammadu Buhari administration said the balance in the ECA dropped from $35.37 million to $376,655 in June. The executive didn’t provide further details.
But commenting on the performance of the ECA, Ahmed on Wednesday said the governors, who are joint owners of the accounts, were informed about the withdrawals.
According to her, the account has had no accruals in the last four years. She tied it to the fickleness of the commodity in the international market.
“The last approval that was given by the council was the withdrawal of $1 billion to enhance security,” Ahmed said.
“We have been utilising that — the last tranche of that has been finally released because deployment to security agencies is based on the contracts executed and it’s been used strictly for that security purpose.
“So, the utilisation of the account is with the full knowledge of the governors.”
