The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) at an emergency meeting yesterday in Abuja, shared $1billion from the Excess Crude Account.

With the disbursement of the amount, the balance in the ECA account now stands at $3million.

The meeting, which was held behind closed doors, lasted for only 29 minutes (11:10am and ended at about 11:39am).

A breakdown of the amount indicated that while the federal government got $458.31million, the states had $232 million, while the local governments would be credited with $179 million.

The balance of $130 million is expected to be shared to the oil producing states based on the principle of derivation.

Leadership Weekend learnt at the venue of the meeting that the amount was shared following an approval given by the National Economic Council.

It was gathered that pressures from the governors to tackle the huge infrastructure deficit in their states had made President Goodluck Jonathan to give the approval.

The Minister of State for Finance, Hajiya Yabawa Wabi, confirmed the development.

Wabi, who is also the Chairman of FAAC, explained that since the National Assembly had agreed to extend the implementation of the capital budget till March 2011, there was the need to share the amount to allow the states fund more developmental projects across the federation.

She said: “We are here because we got an approval to share $1billion from the ECA to the three tiers of government, and this we are doing because the ECA is a financing item in the 2010 budget of both the federal and state governments.

“As you are aware, the budget year has been extended to March 2011 by the National Assembly and that is why we need to share this amount to form part of the 2010 budget.

“Since only the capital budget was extended to march, the money will only be meant for capital projects. The money was approved by Mr. President. No other money was shared apart from this and the money has already been cash-backed.

“In this regard, the FG had $458.31million, the states will share $232 million and the local government will share $179 million and the derivation states will share $130m.”

Also speaking, the Chairman of Finance Commissioners Forum, Alhaji Rabo Usman, denied the amount being an end of year bonus as widely speculated.

He said: “We have to meet because there is no way we could share money without a meeting of FAAC members. That is why we had to hold this emergency meeting to take care of that decision that was taken by the National Economic Council.

“This money is not an end of year bonus, it is funds that belong to the three tiers of government and the ECA is like a savings and the governors believe that there is need to fund some on-going projects that are taking place both at the federal and state levels.

“So it is normal that the money was taken at this time of the year to fund some of our operations. The ECA is an account that belongs to the three tiers of government and anytime we are in need we have a right to use it to fund projects.”









http://www.leadershipeditors.com/ns/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=22353:david-agba--abuja&catid=51:cover-stories&Itemid=101

“As you are aware, the budget year has been extended to March 2011 by the National Assembly and that is why we need to share this amount to form part of the 2010 budget.

“Since only the capital budget was extended to march, the money will only be meant for capital projects. The money was approved by Mr. President. No other money was shared apart from this and the money has already been cash-backed.

macjive01:

i feel like crying , crying for this nation. WHY IS GEJ such a BIG FOOL!!!!!

so this fisherman has wipe out Nigerian coffers?

God! please we really need your intervention.!!!!

So GEJ has depleted $32 billion that soludo and OBJ saved up for nigeria

even the $1 billion that was keep aside for sovereign fund has also been shared??

God if u exist please why wouldn't you strike Jonathan dead

biggest fool on planet earth. PHD my foot!

netotse:

that's why you are a fool. . .how much was in the ECA when GEJ became president? I'm getting pissed sef, in the original article, the minister of state for finance answers questions from the reporter and yet the OP(a know GEJ-hater) adds 'secretly' to the topic. . .talk about brazen idiocy.

macjive01:

you answer the damn question: how much was in the ECA account?

a president that would spent 10 billion on party ?? no prudence ! no sense , . . even the cheap common one.

netotse:

that's why you are a fool. . .how much was in the ECA when GEJ became president? I'm getting pissed sef, in the original article, the minister of state for finance answers questions from the reporter and yet the[b] OP(a know GEJ-hater) adds 'secretly' to the topic[/b]. . .talk about brazen idiocy.

Beaf:

So what if money was spent, is it a crime? Is that money not meant for the states?
If you people wanna bomb, then we have the raw cash to drive you into an aimless existence in the Sahara. Bloody leeches and parasites.
You should shut up and go train your almajiri's to become useful to the economy.

debosky:

Do you have information on the intended use of this money? '[/b]Capital expenditure' is a very vague term.

Beaf:

[b]So what if money was spent, is it a crime? Is that money not meant for the states?
If you people wanna bomb, then we have the raw cash to drive you into an aimless existence in the Sahara. Bloody leeches and parasites.
You should shut up and go train your almajiri's to become useful to the economy.

Beaf:

So what if money was spent, is it a crime? Is that money not meant for the states?
If you people wanna bomb, then we have the raw cash to drive you into an aimless existence in the Sahara. Bloody leeches and parasites.
You should shut up and go train your almajiri's to become useful to the economy.

Rhino.5dm:

@ bold. stop spewing out trash f**l, follow the link before showing your stupidity publicly. was i the one that added the "secretly" title to the article??

just address the issue raised. period!

debosky:

According to allafrica.com, there was $20 billion in the account as of January 2009. This means we have spent nearly $20 billion in addition to the regular oil receipts over two years and we can't clearly point to what this expenditure has achieved.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201002160320.html

We hope, and I mean hope the $5bn supposedly spent on the IPP projects eventually begin to yield fruit, but I am not very optimistic.

Spending $1bn without any clear plan or detail of what this money is aimed at is highly irresponsible.

Akainzo:

Hmmmmm, so by this your answer, nobody in government has stolen money! As all the disbursements were meant for the states!

Beaf, has now proclaimed all politicians saints!

Beaf:

I know you aren't too smart thats why you are now trying to change the topic. I asked two questions: "So what if money was spent, is it a crime? Is that money not meant for the states?" If you don't know the answers, please spare us your foolishness.

Like I said, we are getting tired of loud parasites who can only produce almajiri's and bombers at an industrial scale. We will crush you.

netotse:

it wasn't spent, it was disbursed to the different tiers of government. It was on TV on the 31st, that's why the matter is even pissing me off, i watched the press briefing after the meeting on (national tv), next thing i'm seeing 'secretly'. . .

heck, when GEJ was sworn in, there wasn't up to 5bn in the ECA. . .so why is GEJ being blamed?abi na him spend 15bn in less than a year?

debosky:

The briefing only came about afterwards and it was an emergency meeting. If respected news organisations like the Guardian are saying there is something unusual about the meeting resulting in this disbursement, then eyebrows will definitely be raised. Why was disbursing this money the only item on the agenda? Why was it held on the last day of the year?

The meeting was equally shrouded in secrecy, devoid of the normal publicity and openness of discussions and sharing tables.


http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=34118:posers-over-sharing-of-1b-by-govt-on-new-year-eve&catid=1:national&Itemid=559

Normal questions anyone would ask - pardon those of us that didn't get a chance to watch the press briefing so please give us a summary of the rationale behing this (as explained in the conference) if you can.

Even at that, he was a part of the previous government was he not? It's a bit slope shouldered to absolve GEJ from spending under a government where he was VP.

Even if we ignore the previous $15bn, can we identify the 'capital projects' that the remainder of the ECA funds have been spent on?

I don't think this is about the legality of the sharing, the greater concern is that there doesn't appear to be any specific target for these funds beyond 'capital projects' which can mean nearly anything in Nigerian political parlance, especially in an election year.

Akainzo:

I hope the above is not the kind of answers your GEJ would give should there ever be a debate for presidential aspirants! But who knows, but of you are clueless.

It is crime to spend money that amounts to waste. e.g. Spending N1B to import dustbins.
It is deemed a crime to share such monies when there are no approved budgetary provisions for such. Or tell me, the various state legislators have approved supplementary budgets funded by the ECA allocations?

What I am driving at clearly seems lost on you. If for the sake of support of GEJ, you find nothing wrong with this sharing, the supporters of the other politicians would also use the same logic to support state pilfering. And thus, all of them would be absolved. When people are held accountable, first by their own integrity and then by public demands, the nation moves forward.

Beaf:

'I asked two questions: "So what if money was spent, is it a crime? Is that money not meant for the states?" If you don't know the answers, please spare us your foolishness.'

Answer the above instead of meandering all over the place like a desperate crack head.

When did parasites start caring about Nigeria?
Have you really worried about the 10 million almajiri's in your part of the country? What do you guys produce apart from beggars, almajiri's and bombers? Of what use are you to Nigeria?

Akainzo:

It is crime to spend money that amounts to waste. e.g. Spending N1B to import dustbins.
It is deemed a crime to share such monies when there are no approved budgetary provisions for such. Or tell me, the various state legislators have approved supplementary budgets funded by the ECA allocations?

Akainzo:

I see, you  are too dumb to see the below answers!
And too dumb to equate a name like "Akainzo" to be a Northern name! You are actually clueless.

A breakdown of the amount indicated that while the federal government got $458.31million, the states had $232 million, while the local governments would be credited with $179 million.