The Federation Account Allocation Committee on Tuesday denied giving approval to a former Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, for the withdrawal of $2 billion from the Excess Crude Account.
The committee in a statement by the Forum of Finance Commissioners in Abuja, stated that the law setting it up did not give it the power to approve withdrawals from the ECA.
It said: “It has come to our notice the statement credited to the former Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, that the Federation Account Allocation Committee approved the withdrawal from Excess Crude (Foreign) Account the sum of $2 billion. This statement is far from the fact and is misleading.
“We wish to state unequivocally that FAAC does not have the authority to approve withdrawals from the ECA and, therefore, could not have approved the withdrawal from the Excess Crude (Foreign) Account the sum of $2 billion.
“According to the law setting up FAAC, which pre-dates the ECA, it cannot approve withdrawal and has not done so in the past.
“If anything, FAAC, as records of its meetings indicate, had often queried the activities on the ECA, and, therefore, did not decide any withdrawal.”
The Forum of Finance Commissioners said in Tuesday’s statement that FAAC in December 2014 observed the withdrawal of the now controversial $2 billion from the ECA.
When asked what the withdrawal was for, a former Minister of State for Finance and the Chairman of FAAC, Dr. Bashir Yuguda, told FAAC during plenary that former President Goodluck Jonathan gave approval for the withdrawal to pay oil marketers’ subsidy claims.
Yuguda was quoted as having said the National Economic Council would ratify the action.
The NEC is chaired by the Vice President and made up of the 36 states governors and other relevant stakeholders in the economy.
FAAC added in the statement: “It should be noted, therefore, that FAAC did not and could not have approved nor taken the decision to withdraw the sum of $2 billion from the ECA.
“We would want to excuse Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala on this misrepresentation because she was not in attendance during FAAC plenary and may not have been fully and adequately made abreast of every FAAC activity.”
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