EFCC to probe Amnesty programme.

THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFFC) has started probing the activities of the Presidential Amnesty Programme and has invited immediate past Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta Affairs, Mr. Kingsley Kuku, for questioning on July 28.

On his part, Kuku,  has said that he is ready to assist the anti-graft agency in its bid to probe the accounts of the agency under his leadership.

Kuku, who spoke from the United States of America where he is undergoing a medical procedure, said that the allegations of conspiracy, stealing, abuse of office and diversion of public funds being made against him, did not arise as the records of his administration were clear and available for scrutiny.

“I’m currently in the U.S for an urgent surgery on my knee and will certainly return to honour the EFCC invitation once I recuperate in September. The record of my stewardship under the Presidential Amnesty Programme is an open document and it is available for scrutiny since I have nothing to hide about what we did,” Kuku said on the phone.

The former presidential aide was responding to an invitation by the EFCC, directing him to report to the commission’s headquarters in Abuja for questioning on July 28, 2015 by one of its operatives named, Chris Owobu, over allegation of diverting public funds running into hundreds of millions of Naira.

The EFCC letter with ref: CR 3000/EFCC/ABJ/EG/T7/vol.25/263 and dated July 22, was signed by the Head of Economic Governance, Olufunke Adetayo Ogunbode and was sent and received by the Presidential Amnesty Office in Maitama, same day.

In it, the EFCC said: “The commission is conducting an inquiry into a case of conspiracy, stealing, diversion of public funds and abuse of public office involving you.

“In view of the above, you are kindly expected to be interviewed by the undersigned through Chris Owobu on Tuesday July 28, 2015 at No 5 Formella Street, off Adetokumbo Ademola Crescent Wuse 2, Abuja at 10 am.

“Kindly accept the assurances of the Executive Chairman’s best wishes and highest regards, please,” the invitation letter said.

But Kuku, who is outside the country on medical grounds, wrote back to the EFCC that he was indisposed to appear before the commission on July 28, since he was scheduled for an operation on July 30, at the Andrews Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Centre, United States.

Kuku’s letter to the EFCC dated July 24, 2015 was signed by his lawyer, Chief Karina Tunyan, SAN.

The lawyer wrote: “Our client is currently in the United States of America to keep appointment with his doctors at the Andrew Sports Medicine and ‘Orthopaedic Centre for surgery on one of his knees.

“He is expected back in Nigeria at the end of September, 2015 after the surgery and recuperation. He will definitely report in your office as a law-abiding citizen by 10.am on 30th of September, 2015,” the lawyer explained.

The documents from the Andrews Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Centre were also attached by the lawyer for the attention of the EFCC.

The Head of Media and Publicity of EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, confirmed the invitation extended to Kuku by the commission.

VANGUARD

Buhari Turns Down Former Petroleum Minister Alison-Madueke's Offer To Refund $250 Million.

Immediate past Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, has offered to refund the sum of $250 million dollars to the Nigerian government in return for immunity from further investigation and possible prosecution, SaharaReporters has learned. However, her overture has reportedly received a cold response from President Muhammadu Buhari.

A source in Aso Rock and a ranking member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) told our correspondent that the former minister has been reaching out to influential government and ruling party officials, in and outside Abuja, to prevail on President Buhari to accept her offer and let bygones be bygone. According to our sources, Mrs. Alison-Madueke had enlisted the support of several figures close to Mr. Buhari, including Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, to intercede with the incumbent president. 

Mrs. Alison-Madueke was one of the closest ministers to former President Goodluck Jonathan, and is reputed to have anchored and facilitated numerous money-laundering scandals and deals that characterized the era of the just-ended Jonathan administration. The former Petroleum Minister oversaw several oil swap deals, the disposition of oil wells handed over by Shell Petroleum to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), and the direct looting of funds through the NNPC. Former Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, was forced out of office after he revealed that the NNPC had failed to remit more than $20 billion in oil revenues with the CBN.

The former Petroleum Minister is the latest of several officials who served under Mr. Jonathan’s government that are currently negotiating “soft landing deals” with the Buhari administration. The incumbent president, who was sworn in on May 29, 2015, has vowed to probe various questionable financial actions taken by his successor or officials of his government. Mr. Buhari is reportedly determined to recover billions of dollars in stolen funds. 

One source said Mrs. Alison-Madueke’s latest offer to refund at least $250 million to the government came after she learned that President Buhari’s scheduled meeting with US Attorney General, Loretta Lynch, would include a discussion of ways that the US government could facilitate the investigation, arrest and prosecution of some officials of the Jonathan administration implicated in the theft of billions of dollars and a variety of frauds that resulted in the loss of significant sums of public funds in Nigeria.

SaharaReporters exclusively reported earlier in the week that the former Minister of Finance and the Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has been cooperating with the Buhari administration’s ongoing, if quiet, probe of a series of questionable financial transactions by the Jonathan administration. 

Our sources revealed that Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala had given the Buhari administration documents that expose a number of shady financial deals executed by the Jonathan administration. 

Two days ago, we reported that former Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Emeka Anyaoku, had appealed to Mr. Buhari to halt the ongoing probe of former President Jonathan’s administration. Even though Mr. Anyaoku has denied that he urged Mr. Buhari to stop the investigation of his predecessor’s financial dealings, our sources insisted that the ex-Commonwealth chief executive brought up the matter.

Our sources disclosed that Mr. Buhari was unimpressed by Mrs. Alison-Madueke’s offer. “Mr. President considers the $250 million as ridiculous considering the amount of money Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke is suspected to have diverted into her pocket and those of others,” said one source.

According to our sources, Mr. Buhari is intent on ordering a full audit of deals and transactions done by the former Petroleum Minister and her cohorts in the various agencies that reported to her.

In addition, the new president is reportedly focused on looking further at the extensive embezzlement of security funds by appointees of the former president. Mr. Buhari has approved an investigation of how more than $3 billion in Nigeria’s defense budget was spent. Security agents who searched the homes of former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, reportedly carted away some revealing documents. 

Earlier today, the Department of State Security (DSS) arrested and detained Gordon Obuah, a former Chief Security Officer to President Goodluck Jonathan. Mr. Obuah is reportedly being questioned over his alleged mastermind of a multi-million dollar oil bunkering deal during the former administration.

Sahara reporters.

FG orders IG to hand over Saraki's money laundering case file.

The Office of the Attorney General of the Federation and that of the Inspector General of Police might have disagreed on what to do with former Kwara Governor, Dr. Bukola Saraki, on his alleged use of fronts to withdraw the sum of N6 billion from the accounts of a company, Joy Petroleum, domiciled in Intercontinental Bank, now Access.

Initially, the Office of the IG had approached a Federal High Court in Abuja on April 26, 2012 to press charges against the former governor for conspiracy, forgery and stealing after claiming to have initiated a comprehensive investigation into a petition sent to it by Joy Petroleum that it was being denied access by the bank following the illegal change of signatory to the account by unknown persons.

Sen. Saraki

But in a legal advice to the IG on the move to prosecute Saraki and others named by the petitioner, the Attorney General advised against taking any action against Saraki and his aides over the bank issue, since from the records available to his office, the former governor had not committed any offence to warrant such trial.

In the legal document, which Vanguard sighted last night, dated 9thOctober 2012, with reference Number DPP/ADV: 061/12, and signed by the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation, Mrs. O.O. Fatunde, the AGF Office, noted that it would be improper to hold Saraki liable for the internal actions of the then Intercontinental Bank.

The AGF Office said: “It would therefore be improper and unjust in the circumstance to hold Dr. Saraki , Mr. Pinheiro or indeed the companies criminally liable for the internal actions and decisions of the bank and its officials bordering on exercise of discretion.

“Every customer of a bank (corporate or individual) has the right to apply for a loan on the most favourable terms possible. This alone does not constitute any offence under any law because it is within the discretion of the bank to grant or refuse such loan application.

“Dr. Saraki and Pinheiro are alleged to be connected with the grant of the loans as promoter and director respectively of the companies. By virtue of Section 18 of the Act, a director or any other partner or officer of a company can only be held responsible in that capacity for the actions of the company if the company is guilty of an offence under the Act.

“Since the company in this case cannot be held to have committed any offence under Section 15( 1) (a), it follows that Dr. Saraki and Mr. Pinheiro cannot also be held criminally responsible only on account of having acted as promoter and director of the companies in connection with the said loan,” the DPP advised.

However in a new twist that is likely to upturn the whole investigation and pave the way for the prosecution of the former governor, the Attorney General has written a different letter to the IG to hand over the case file to him for further action.

In the new letter, which Vanguard obtained last night, the AGF in insisting that his office needed to carry out further review of the case file before any further action is taken on the matter.

In a memo with reference No. DPP/ADV: 061/12/91 and addressed to the Inspector General of Police with particular attention to the Commissioner of Police Special Fraud Unit, and signed by Haruna Isa Alabi, Deputy Director of Public Prosecution, the AGF said his office wanted the case file to be able to ascertain whether the evidence presented against Saraki and others was borne out of mere suspicion or was capable of sustaining a conviction before trial.

Saraki has said that there was no infraction of any law in the matter, which his companies obtained loans and paid back to the banks through agreed terms of settlement.

But the former IG, Mohammed Abubakar, who initiated the trial of Saraki, had alleged among other things that the former governor made the bank to lose funds by using his fronts while serving as governor to engage in money laundering.

$182 Million Halliburton case: BUHARI ORDERS PREPARATION OF CASE FILE

As President Muhammadu Buhari travels to  the United States (US) today to engage President Barack Obama  in talks  on  economic, security, financial and anti-graft issues, it has emerged that he has ordered the preparation of the case-file that would lead to the prosecution of the indicted persons  in the $182 million Halliburton bribery scandal.

Sunday Vanguardgathered that the President’s  directive  followed  the requirement by the US government of evidence to show that Buhari was ready to prosecute the suspects  in Nigeria for their roles in the bribery scandal before it  could  partner other European countries in releasing the $141million dollars allegedly looted from Nigeria  and lodged  in various overseas  banks.

According to top security sources, Buhari, based on the outcome of investigations by  the panel set up to look into the scandal, is scheduled to tell  Americans officials during this week’s visit that all those indicted, including former Heads of State, a former Vice President, two former Group Managing Directors of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, will face prosecution to defend themselves.

To further convince the US officials  that the kangaroo trial that took place during the Jonathan administration, which saw a former Special Assistant on Domestic Affairs to the President being  arraigned and then let off the hook following alleged connivance of certain government institutions, will not re-occur, the President will tell them that private legal practitioners, who cannot compromise because of past government patronage, will be commissioned to handle the case.

It will be recalled that the recent directive by Buhari to reopen the Halliburton bribery case led to the discovery that the $26.5 million plea bargain money released by the  oil servicing firm as part of efforts to shield the company from prosecution was not in any government account.

PDP Vice Chairman: Anyim Pius Anyim is after my life.

Dr Cairo Ojougboh, People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Vice-Chairman (South-South), has alleged threat to his life by the immediate past Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator Anyim Pius Anyim.

He said he had become target of assassins since he exposed the alleged fraud involving Senator Anyim in the Abuja Centenary City project.

The PDP chieftain insisted that the multi-trillion centenary city project was “an elaborate scam”

Ojougboh has already written a petition addressed to the Inspector-General of Police (I-G), Mr Solomon Arase, entitled “Letter of Complaints to Threat to Life, Intimidation, Blackmail, by Senator Anyim Pius Anyim”.

Solicitors to Ojougboh, Oludotun Sowemimo & Associates, are signatories to the letter.

Ojuogboh had dismissed the claim that the centenary city, which has a 10-year completion period, was a public private partnership arrangement.

The centenary city in Abuja was conceived by the Jonathan administration as part of Nigeria’s centenary anniversary. The N2.976tn project, which occupies a landmass of 1,200 hectares, is to be modeled after modern cities like Dubai, Shenzhen, Monaco and Singapore as well as serve as political and economic tool for securing foreign investment.

DAILY POST recalls that Ojuogboh told reporters in Abuja last weekend that the land was allotted to “one man, who went to incorporate the centenary city as a free zone”.

Dr. Ojougboh said he had personally written a letter to then President Jonathan on several occasions concerning the centenary city telling him it was wrong to create a free zone in the city centre.

He recalled that he also warned Jonathan that the issue of centenary city has made some Nigerians to believe that the PDP is a corrupt party.

Ojuogboh said: “Go and Find out. The centenary city is owned by one man and when he come he will start calling names; Abdulsalam Abubakar, this and that. If you go to the Corporate Affairs Commission, you will see the owner of the centenary city.

“There are two companies owned by one man who was in charge of the office of the SGF. And of course, personally, I severally wrote a letter to Mr. President telling him that this thing is wrong, that you cannot create a free zone in the centre of the city.

“That if you live in a free zone, you need visa to go in and out, that if you make the centenary city a free zone, you are going to deprive Nigerian industries of income and employment. In Dubai where you have free zones, the land belongs to the government.

“Today, the certificate of occupancy of the so-called free zone is in bank fold that is what they used to be getting money to be building the free zones. It is such things that people begin to tag PDP as a corrupt party.

“Somebody within that office called the SGF had impunity to tell Nigerians lies that the centenary city is a public private partnership arrangement; I mean it is a lie. In fact, huge chunk of land was given to only one man and it didn’t stop there. He now went to incorporate the entity as a free zone. Where have you ever seen it in this world? It is crime personified.

“But we are going to re-build the party and if we don’t tell ourselves the truth, we won’t be able to rebuild the party. I have told you why the PDP lost the election. But as a PDP member, I am telling you that PDP is not corrupt. But what I know is the issue of the centenary city which I know that, that place is a blueprint for corruption and that entity is corrupt”.

I owe no one apologies for dating Gov. Suswan - Imelda

Money, women and power are three inseparables that form a carnal trinity all over the world. Men of money and power usually end up attracting a flock of the most beautiful women. Glamorous and beautiful singer, Imelda Ada Jane Okwori, famously known as Imelda J, lives an easy-going lifestyle that attracts stories, linking her romantically with Rt. Hon Gabriel Suswam, the former executive Governor of Benue State.

City wags claim that the successes of the Jisoro crooner were largely due to favours from the former Benue governor.

If the story of an affair with the ace politician is true, it will merely fit into a global pattern of famous female entertainers who have been romantically linked with the high and mighty in the society where they reside.

FRAUD: #11.56 Trillion unaccounted for in ECA

At least N11.55 trillion or $84.52 billion expected revenue into the coffers of the nation’s Excess Crude Account for the eight-year period from 2007 to 2014 are unaccounted for, according to findings by PREMIUM TIMES based on now available data from multiple government agencies not made public until now.

The ECA accounting has remained perhaps one of the most opaque public fund mechanisms in the country, puzzling even state governors who repeatedly challenged former Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala for lack of transparency and accountability regarding the organization of the fund.

After a recent National Economic Council meeting in Abuja, a committee of state governors angrily lashed at Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala, accusing her office, as supervisors of the fund, of arbitrariness and probably illegality in the management of a fund meant for the three tiers of government but which the ministry of finance apparently ran as a sole federal government fund.

PREMIUM TIMES arrived at its computation based on differentials between expected accruals and actual withdrawals from the ECA honey pot.

Based on their reporting, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation [NNPC] and the Central Bank of Nigeria [CBN] claim that for the eight years in review, no fewer than N23.79 trillion was deposited into the ECA fund.

In its own accounting, the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee [FAAC] reported that for the same period, N10.58 trillion was withdrawn from the fund.

Although no where in the FAAC reporting was the N1.3 trillion ad-hoc domestic infrastructural investment and capital-intensive spending on the National Integrated Power Projects [NIPP] indicated, PREMIUM TIMES accommodated it in its analysis to arrive at the N11.55 trillion unaccounted ECA revenue.

Our estimate can even be said to be conservative given that we did not compute  what could have accrued to the ECA from crude allocated to the NNPC for domestic refining, but which almost always ended up being sold abroad because of the bad shape of Nigeria’s four refineries.

It is instructive to note that for the first 41 months from January 2007 to May 2010, there was no single public record of transfers into the ECA by FAAC.

After the questionable 41-month silence on ECA reporting, the FAAC curiously resumed reporting in June 2010 till the end of the review period during which N7.16 trillion accrued to the national coffers.

It remains unknown if this unaccounted funds were stolen or mismanaged and if federal law enforcement authorities are currently reviewing the process.

The spokesperson for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Wilson Uwujaren, said he had no information about any ongoing investigation regarding the ECA.

But concerned by what appeared a lack of accountability in the management of the account, the National Economic Council [NEC] on June 29 raised a four-man committee to examine accruals into and withdrawals from the Federation Account and the Excess Crude Account from 2012 to May 2015.

Members of the committee are Governors Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, Emmanuel Udom of Akwa Ibom, Ibrahim Dankwabo of Gombe and Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna.

The panel’s report is still being awaited.

Repeated suggestions by the new Muhammadu Buhari’s administration that public funds were poorly and corruptly managed in the recent past appear to necessitate a deliberate, serious and careful look into the management of public funds by past administrations.

History of ECA

The ECA was created by the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2004 to act as a stabilization fund, closing budget deficits caused by oil price volatility.

The fund was designed to enable savings for the rainy day.

Since its birth however, the ECA has been bedeviled by controversy. One major challenge is the legal status of the body and the constitutional place of the Ministry of Finance in operating both the FAAC and the ECA. Another problem is the zero transparency exhibited by various agencies and officials of government charged with managing the funds over the years.

In recent years, the Ministry of Finance has refused to make public the detailed withdrawals from and accruals to the ECA, making it difficult to track budget spending and periodic status of the nation’s treasury.

The overarching constitutional provision demands a legislative buy-in and approval before any huge withdrawals are made from the FAAC. Likewise, the excess crude account and its administration recognize the three tiers of government as owners and decision makers regarding withdrawals from the account. The third means of checking the activities on ECA is the oversight performed by the National Economic Council (NEC).

All these have been consistently abused by the leadership of the Federal Ministry of Finance thus strapping Nigeria into penury, incessant contingency loans from International communities, and ultimately crippling the dividends that would have accrued to this stabilization mechanism.

In her bid to fend off criticism, Ms. Okonjo-Iweala made effort to give annual summaries of accruals and withdrawals from the Excess crude account for a period of 2011 to May 2015.

However, no clear highlights of monthly accruals and monthly disbursement of the funds to various quarters were provided to Nigerians.

Greater concerns about ECA

The discrepancies in reporting by the different agencies have been the most frustrating challenge on the ECA.  Going by the NNPC report of actual oil production and monthly oil price within the period under review (2007- 2014), Nigeria is expected to have an inflow of ₦23.79 trillion ($166.87 billion).

In the same manner, the monthly FAAC reports by the Office of the Accountant General reported a total of ₦10.582 trillion ($73.93 billion) as withdrawals from the Excess crude account (ECA).

However, other reports indicate that the Federal and state governments agreed and made withdrawals of $8.425billion (₦1.308 trillion) as fund to implement National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) within the same period.

Cumulatively, total withdrawals of N11.89 trillion ($82.17 billion) was accounted for as withdrawals from ECA as FAAC distributions, funds for Sure P and NIPP.

Following this figures, the net expected balance in the ECA as at December 2014 should be ₦11.9 trillion ($84.52 billion).

However, the Ministry of Finance declared in May 2015 that the actual balance in the ECA as at December 2014 was $2,060,554,241 (₦344.85billion). If this figure is anything to go by, a difference of $82.46 billion (₦11.56 trillion) can be regarded as unaccounted amount expected to be in the Excess Crude Account.

FULL DETAILS OF UNREPORTED N11.56 TRILLION EXCESS CRUDE ACCRUALS

Annual Oil Production: Budgeted versus Actual Export

The annual benchmark values in barrels for crude oil production as indicated by appropriation laws during the period were 900million [2007], 882million [2008], 824.4million [2009] and 846 million [2010].

The benchmark estimate for the remaining years were: 828million barrels [2011], 892.8million [2012], 910.8million [2013] and 856.8million [2014].

However, the actual annual crude oil export as reported in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) monthly reports were 792million [2007], 724.5million [2008], 769million [2009] and 864.7million [2010].

The annual export for the remaining years were: 822million [2011], 830.8million [2012], 762milion [2013] and 796.7million [2014].

This is shown in the table below

Premium Times

Annual Oil Price: Budgeted versus Actual

However, although the actual amounts of crude oil production were lesser than the benchmark value (except for 2010), the actual prices of crude oil were higher than the fiscalised (benchmarked) crude oil price making.

The benchmark prices set by the Federal government from 2007 to 2014 were $40, $53.83, $45, $67, $75, $72, $79 and $77.50 respectively.

Likewise, going by the data on monthly crude oil price by the Central Bank of Nigeria, the annual average price of oil were $74.48, $101.14, $63.9, and $80.92 for 2007 to 2010 while for 2011 to 2014, the average annual crude oil price stood at $113.76, $113.47, $110.99 and $100.35 respectively.

Premium Times

Annual Oil Revenue and Expected Accruals to ECA (in USD)

Going by the annual market prices, the benchmark (budgeted) prices and the annual oil production (Tables 2 & 3 above) the actual oil revenues were $59.24 billion [2007],  $72.62 billion [2008], $49.79 billion [2009], and $70.08 billion [2010].

Also the actual oil revenue for 2011 to 2014 stood at $93.42 billion, $94.17 billion, $84.57 billion and  $80.03 billion respectively.

In the same manner, the corresponding budgeted oil revenue for 2007 to 2010 were $36 billion, $47.48 billion, $37.1 billion, and $56.68 billion. For 2011 to 2014, the same revenue stood at$62.1 billion, 64.28 billion, $71.95 billion and $66.4 billion respectively.

With the figures stated above and in table 4 below, the total actual oil revenue for the eight-year period was $603.91 billion while the total budgeted oil price was $442 billion.

The annual excess crude proceeds (actual revenue minus budgeted revenue) are estimated to be$23.24 billion [2007], $27billion [2008], 13.96 billion [2009], and $13.39 billion [2010] respectively.

Also the annualized excess crude proceeds for 2011 to 2014 were estimated to be $31.32 billion [2011], $29.89 billion [2012], $12.61 billion [2013], and $15.46 billion [2014] respectively.

By these calculations, the Federal government, from 2007 to 2014 would have realised a sum difference of $166.87 billion as excess crude net expected balance in the ECA.

This is obtained as excess of actual revenue from crude oil ($603.91 billion) over the gross budgeted crude oil revenue ($442 billion).

This is shown in the table below.

Premium Times

Annual Expected Inflow to Excess Crude Account (in U.S. Dollars and Nigeria Naira)

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation  (NNPC) sells its crude in U.S. dollars, and also remits to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in dollars. This explains why revenue accrual and excess crude funds figures are usually provided in U.S. dollars.

However, CBN deposits the funds into the Federation allocation account in Naira, leaving room for another level of computation to get the actual NNPC remittances to CBN in Naira.

The annual average exchange rate of $1 to a Naira, going by the CBN monthly data on international foreign exchange market (IFEM), for the period of 2007 to 2014 stood at ₦123.93 [2007], ₦117 [2008], ₦146.82 [2009], ₦148.31 [2010], ₦151.83 [2011], ₦155.43 [2012], ₦155.25 [2013] and ₦156.45 [2014] respectively.

By computing the corresponding Naira value of the actual and budgeted revenue as given in dollars, it was revealed that a total of ₦23.79 trillion is the expected inflow into the ECA as at December 2014.

This is arrived at by the sum of expected inflow into the ECA from 2007 to 2014 as ₦2.848 trillion,₦3.129 trillion, ₦2.066 trillion, ₦1.988 trillion ₦4.755 trillion, ₦4.646 trillion, ₦1.958 trillion and ₦2.4 trillion respectively.

Table 4 below shows detail of the figures:

Premium Times

Net Expected Balance in ECA

The reports by the Office of the Accountant General (OAGF) as well as reports by the Federal and state governments agreed that withdrawals for the National Integrated Power Project (NIPP) in March 2013 revealed that the annual withdrawals from ECA (actual withdrawals) for 2007 to 2010 were₦708.93 billion, ₦1.637 trillion, ₦1.546 trillion, and ₦1.325 trillion respectively.

Also, annual withdrawals for 2011 to 2014 were reported to be ₦1.841 trillion, ₦1.606 trillion,₦2.905 trillion, and ₦320 billion respectively.

Cumulatively, total withdrawals of ₦11.89 trillion ($82.36 billion) was accounted for as withdrawals from ECA as FAAC distributions, funds for Sure P and NIPP.

Following this figures, the net expected balance in the ECA as at December 2014 should be ₦11.900 trillion ($84.52 billion).

Premium Times

Summary of Unaccounted Amount in the Excess Crude Funds

Ms. Okonjo-Iweala through the Ministry of Finance published summary information on transfer to excess crude account from 2011 to May 2015.

The Minister claimed in the publication that the actual balance in the Excess Crude Account, as at December to 2014, was $2,060,554,241, which by the CBN IFEM figures, stood at ₦344.85 billion (₦344,848,470,446) as shown in Table 6 below.

Recalling from Table 5 above, the expected net balance in the ECA as at December 2014 was ₦11.901trillion.

By calculating the difference between the net expected balance in the ECA (₦11.901 trillion) and the actual balance in ECA as at December 2014 (₦344.85 billion) i.e (₦11,900,580,038,990 –₦344,848,470,446), it is clear that for the period of 2007 to 2014, a total of N11.56 trillion(₦11,555,731,568,544) was unaccounted for.

Premium Times

Authenticity of Data and Verification of Estimated Value

PREMIUM TIMES investigation relied solely on data obtained from relevant government agencies such CBN, NNPC, OAGF, Budget Office and Ministry of Finance. Moreover, in order to further verify and validate the analyzed data, FOI request were made to CBN, Ministry of Finance Revenue Mobilization and Federation Account (RevFAC) and the NNPC. 

None of the FOI request to the four agencies gave the requested details as at the time of this report.

As much as these figures were concerned, it is believed from interrogating the available data from the Office of the Accountant General (OAGF), that no concrete coordination existed between the Ministry of Finance and the OAGF.

As identified by the Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative [NEITI] report, the five major ministries, departments and agencies – CBN, NNPC, RevFAC, OAGF and Ministry of Finance — consistently gave conflicting figures, thereby confusing the public the more.

Conclusion

So far, PREMIUM TIMES investigation has shown that ₦11.56trillion that should have accrued to the Excess Crude Account is unaccounted for.

It remains to be seen whether the various agencies involved in the management of the account would open up their books and let Nigerians understand how they handled and disbursed the funds on behalf of the Nigerian people.

Premium times