Source: Bloomberg

President Muhammadu Buhari has denied that the Excess Crude Account (ECA) will be depleted further to pay government debts, including civil servants’ salaries, Bloomberg reports.

The government will instead use a $2.1 billion dividend paid into the Treasury by Nigeria LNG Ltd., Africa’s biggest producer of liquefied natural gas, to pay wages, Buhari’s spokesman, Femi Adesina, said Tuesday in an e-mailed statement from the capital, Abuja. Nigeria’s 36 states and local arms of the government will also be able to draw “soft loans” from the central bank and have some debt restructured, he said.

The comments seek to clarify statements made by Nigeria’s Accountant General Ahmed Idris on Monday that the Excess Crude Account, which holds the nation’s oil savings and has a balance of about $2 billion, will be drawn down by $1.7 billion. The funds will be shared by the federal, state and local governments to meet their financial obligations, Idris said.

cuteboy2:

What difference does it make?

Whether from Excess Crude Account or from NLNG Revenue Account, it is still the same bail out of corrupt state governments, whose governors are answerable financially to nobody. They still draw their Security Vote, whether civil servants in their states are paid or not.

cuteboy2:
Sounds like the difference between 6 and half a dozen.

cuteboy2:
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What difference does it make?
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fulanimafia:




Nope there is a clear difference. Our excess crude account balance is still intact for the rainy day, while the recently remitted funds from NLNG were used to solve the immediate biting problems of the average Nigerian that is going hungry due to unpaid salaries.

That is called purposeful leadership.

tinkinjow:
The money must be shared accordingly to each state whether they owe salaries or not else those state not owing salaries should approach the supreme court immediately.
Buhari can't just sit and decide how moneys accruing to the federation is spent.

States can't just sit idly by owing salaries and expect bailout from moneys constitutionally required to be shared all units of the federation.
That can never be allowed. Put the money in the consolidated revenue fund and allocate it ad usual.

efilefun:
At least we got a leader who is ready to explain how things are done to us, not like the otuoke man... Imagine how many stories they've developed for the missing $2billion

Boss13:


Nice comment. There is need for intense scrutiny, else we are setting a bad precedence. The money spent by these governors must be reviewed thoroughly.

Yehman:
Booked

fulanimafia:




Nope there is a clear difference. Our excess crude account balance is still intact for the rainy day, while the recently remitted funds by NLNG were used to solve the immediate biting problems of the average Nigerian that is going hungry due to unpaid salaries.

That is called purposeful leadership.

Boss13:


Nice comment. There is need for intense scrutiny, else we are setting a bad precedence. The money spent by these governors must be reviewed thoroughly.

cuteboy2:


There is no law in Nigeria that permits the Federal government to warehouse revenue from NLNG to take care of so-called "biting problems".

There are few special allocations for ecological, ETF, and 13% for Niger Delta.

There is no provision anywhere in our laws for some funds to be set aside to pay salaries of civil servants at State level. Will Fed Govt also pay arrears salaries of private sector workers?

baralatie:

But they can approach the House Of Assembly!