36 States Commissioners of Finance and Accountants of the federation in Abuja 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 $2billion from Nigeria’s excess crude oil revenue account last December.

Members of the Federation Account Allocation Committe (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). This statement is far from the fact and is misleading,” the statement read.

 

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 of the 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. The discrepancy has been noted for discussion at the next FAAC meeting. It calls to question how transparent the management of the excess crude revenues has been”, Odaah Stated.