Alhaji Ahmed Idris, the Accountant General of the Federation, AGF, in a rather controversial manner have backtracked his earlier claim that the $1.7 Billion (N359, 374,355,607.60) bailout funds were sourced from the Excess Crude Account, ECA. He made this clarification yesterday in a statement through Kenechukwu N. Offie, Head of press in the AGF’s office where he stated that the $1.7 Billion was sourced from accrued company income tax (CIT) paid by the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Company (NLNG) and not the ECA.
Buhari’s new accountant general of the
federation had erroneously announced on Monday that funds to be shared by the
federal, states and local governments would come from the ECA, sending shock
waves through the financial community that the Buhari- led administration which
earlier claimed that it met an ‘empty treasury’ is about to decimate the ECA
which constitutes part of Nigerians foreign reserves.In the press release from the office of
the AGF, it reads:
“Consequently,
it has become necessary to provide further clarification about the outcome of
the said emergency FAAC meeting.
“That the amount distributed was not from
the Excess Crude Account ECA but rather the accrued Company Income Tax (CIT)
realised from the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) N359, 374,355, 607.60”“That the amount that was distributed was
less the cost of collection”
“The Federal government got 56.68%
amounting to N181,745,674,112.72”“The State governments got 26.72%
amounting to N92,183,834,705.62”“Local government councils got 20.60%
amounting to N71, 069,872,564.96.”
“The Accountant-General of the
Federation, Alhaji Ahmed Idris, makes this clarification in order to provide
Nigerians with the correct and authentic information about the outcome of the
proceedings at the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee meeting held on
Monday 6th July 2015.”“The public is also invited to please
note that no withdrawal was made from the Excess Crude Account (ECA) and that
the current balance still remains $2.1 billion.”
