The Senate Committee on Finance has demanded the identity of the lawyer paid the sum of $4million from the Excess Crude Account as Counsel Professional fee.
Chairman of the Committee, Senator Adeola Olamilekan made the request at a session between his Committee and the Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris.
The Senate Committee equally frowned at the depletion of the ECA from $325 million in February 2020 to $71.8 million in March.
The Excess Crude Account is an escrow account set up by the Federal Government and into which the difference between the benchmark price of crude oil approved by the National Assembly and the actual sales price in the international world market is paid.
The money in the account is used to serve as a buffer in the event of a fluctuation in the oil price or reduction in supply to the international market. It became the saving grace when the dwindling revenue from crude oil sales in the international market due to falling price, compounded by the Niger Delta crisis resulting in revenue available for distribution falling below projections.
Giving a breakdown of the outflows, the Accountant General of the Federation disclosed that the balance in the Excess Crude Accountant as at January 2020 was $325 million, while the National Economic Council (NEC) agreed to invest $250 million into Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) and $4 million was paid as professional fee to an anonymous lawyer.
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He said: “The inflows into the Excess Crude Account have been fluctuating due to the positive and negative variances in the price of crude. The transfer into the account has witnessed a downward trend in view of the low oil prices, particularly from the year 2015 to date.
“The highest excess inflow of the sum of $17.344 billion was recorded in 2008 while the lowest excess inflow of the sum of $0.276 million was recorded in 2015.
“The weighed average price in 2008 and 2015 was $103.67 and $39.04 respectively. The balance in the ECA as at 2nd March 2020 is $71.8 million.
Ahmed also told the senators that the Federal government was yet to release money for the Capital Projects in 2020.”
Nigerian Tribune checks revealed that in the 2020 budget signed by President Muhammadu Buhari, the sum of N2.465 trillion was proposed for capital expenditure.
He, however, said that N493 billion has been released for personnel cost while N59.77 billion released for consolidated pension, N46.6 billion for overhead cost while only N20.76 billion for capital supplementation.
Nigerian Tribune investigation revealed that the mismanagement of the ECA was the cause of the Cold War in the last administration, between the forum of 36 states governors, the Nigerian Governors’ Forum led by immediate past Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi and former President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan.
A crisis instigated by the latter culminated into polarisation of the NGF into factions led by Rotimi Amaechi and the former Plateau State governor, Jonah Jang.