Oppositions Ask FG to Account for Missing $5Bn

Opposition parties have challenged the federal government to account for the $5 billion, which has reportedly disappeared from the nation’s Excess Crude Account (ECA)

The New Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) separately threw the challenge on Sunday while reacting to a disclosure by Mr.  Rotimi Amaechi, Chairman, Nigeria Governors’ Forum, and also governor, Rivers State at the second annual retreat of the NGF in Sokoto on Saturday.

Amaechi had claimed that the Excess Crude Account, an account used to save oil revenues above a base amount derived from a defined benchmark price, stood at $9billion in January but  shrunk to $4billion  as of today.

Money accruing from the federation account and its sharing  by the federal account allocation committee were  among the topics discussed at the retreat.

A statement yesterday by Chikwuemeka Eze, national publicity secretary, New PDP,  said the allegation was too weighty to be swept under the carpet, because of the realities on the ground.

“For all intents and purposes, Governor Amaechi is not a frivolous person and is not known for making frivolous claims. We told Nigerians about the poor handling of our common patrimony by this administration but sadly, nobody took us serious” the statement said

Eze said that  “Today, the unmistakable evidence is that Nigeria is broke, as the Federal Government now finds it difficult to meet its obligations to states, local governments and contractors.”

The factional party hailed Amaechi for bringing the matter to the open and challenged the Federal Government to tell Nigerians what it did with the money.

It also challenged the nation’s anti-graft agencies to probe the whereabouts of the missing fund.

The new PDP said: “That this administration is running for a price award as the most corrupt administration in the annals of governance in Nigeria is not in doubt.

“We urge Nigerians to heed the advice of the NGF and stop being docile in the face of monumental impunity in the country. This, in reality, is the only way to rescue Nigeria from the path of doom…”

Elsewhere,  the APC criticised the President Goodluck Jonathan administration for the missing $5billion excess crude account fund.

It  said that when considered with other graft cases, it showed clearly that  the administration swam in corruption.

Alhaji Lai Mohammed, party’s national publicity secretary,  stated this in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents in Abuja on Sunday.

He said, “This government is swimming in corruption. We are also making our own investigation into the missing money, which is $5billionn.  Even N5million is a lot of money. Now they have taken $5billion; about N800billion.  That is what it will take us to have four mainland bridges. I can assure you the last has not been heard about it.”