Former Coordinating Minister Of The Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala has schooled the newly established National Economic Council headed by President Muhammadu Buhari concerning its allegations that the Former Finance Minister unilaterally spent $2.1 bln from the country’s oil revenue.
Governor Adams Oshiomole, a member of the NEC after a meeting recently held by the body told the media “The last time the former Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, reported to the council, and it is in the minutes, she reported by November 2014 that we had $4.1 billion.
“Today, the Accountant General’s office reported we have $2 which means the honourable minister spent $2.1 billion without authority of NEC and that money was not paid to states, it was not paid to the three tiers of government.”
In a statement released via email, the former minister described the allegations as false, malicious and without foundation.
Her spokesperson said, “We want to state categorically that no unauthorized expenditure from the ECA was made under Okonjo-Iweala’s watch in the Finance Ministry. Decisions on such expenditure were discussed at meetings of the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) attended by finance commissioners from the 36 states
“It is curious that in their desperation to use the esteemed National Economic Council for political and personal vendetta, the persons behind these allegations acted as if the constitutionally recognized FAAC, a potent expression of Nigeria’s fiscal federalism, does not exist.
“But Nigerians know that collective revenues, allocations and expenditures of the three tiers of government are the concern of the monthly FAAC meetings,” said Iweala.
Political analysts are criticizing President Muhammadu Buhari for appointing a team comprising of All Progressives Congress (APC) governors to probe the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) just several months after the outgoing administration appointed Price Waterhouse Coopers and KPMG, two internationally respected audit firms to audit the oil behemoth.
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