Excess Crude Account: Okonjo-Iweala replies Oshiomhole, says attack “baseless”

premiumtimesng.com

The outgoing Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on Thursday described as baseless comments by the Edo State governor, Adam Oshiomhole, that she mismanaged the excess crude revenue account in the last four years.

Following a publication by the Federal Ministry of Finance, highlighting a total of N2.92 trillion as share of the 36 state governments’ allocation from the excess crude account between 2011 and 2014, Mr. Oshiomhole lambasted Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, accusing her of gross mismanagement of the Nigerian economy.

Mr. Oshiomhole said the Minister fed Nigerians with half-truths about the true state of the economy in the last four years. He added that she has herself to blame for running the Excess Crude Account as a “one-man show”.
However, the embattled minister, through her spokesperson, Paul Nwabuikwu, described the governor’s reaction as “baseless” and “full of gaping holes, both in facts and logic”.

She said it was no surprise that these statements were coming few days after the publication.

The Minister said she was being targeted, particularly by those governors whose states could not pay salaries, for daring to publish how the ECA was shared.

Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala said releasing the ECA details had shown that allegations about missing oil money in the excess crude account under her watch were wild and lacking any substance.

The motive behind Mr. Oshiomhole’s attack, like other governors, the Minister said, was “to divert public attention away from the manner in which they have run the finances of their states and to make Okonjo-Iweala the scapegoat”.

“How can Governor Oshiomhole claim that state governors were not properly briefed on the status of the ECA when their Commissioner of Finance attended all the FAAC meetings where decisions are taken and communicated to the nation?” she asked.

On the governor’s demand for the disclosure of full details of subsidy payments to oil marketers in the last four years, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala expressed surprise, in view of the fact that every such payments had always been published in the media.

The minister dismissed Mr. Oshiomhole’s allegation that she has not been transparent in the management of the country’s revenues as “ridiculous and totally lacking in merit”, as details of monthly allocations to the federal, state and local governments have always been made public.

Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala said she had no apologies for insisting that a claim of N159 billion by the marketers out of a total of N200 billion for foreign exchange (FOREX) differentials should go through an additional verification process.

The minister, who described as ridiculous and laughable Mr. Oshiomhole’s claim that she was speaking out lately for “fear of Buhari”, said she has no reason to fear.

“Those who cannot adequately explain what they did with the resources of their states and are begging for bailout are those who should to be scared,” she said.