Nigeria’s Excess Crude Account Drops From $2Bn to Below $500K, Lawmakers Demand Explanation From CBN
- Nigeria's excess crude account is now below $500,000 latest data released by the The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC)
- This is a massive drop from the over $2 billion reported before the administration of former president Muhammadu Buhari
- Lawmakers are demanding an explanation from the Central Bank of Nigeria on how the was spent
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The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has revealed that the balance in Nigeria's Excess Crude Account (ECA) as at the end of June 2023 is $473,754.57.
The latest figure shows that no single dollar has been added or deduced from the ECA since of December 15, 2022 according to Legit.ng analysis.
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The ECA is a savings account retained by the Federal Government and is funded by the difference between the market price of crude oil and the budgeted price of crude oil as contained in the appropriation bill.
Nigeria can no longer save
The depletion of the ECA has been a subject of concern among experts and Nigerians.
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This is because ECA balance had once stood $20 billion in 2009 before depleting to $2 billion in 2015.
Lawmakers call for probe
Lawmakers have also raised concerns and is calling on the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to provide explanation on activities on the ECA, Daily Nigerian reports.
Esosa Iyawe(LP-Edo) at plenary on Thursday, July 20, 2023, made a strong case for the CBN to give a proper breakdown on how the ECA is managed especially all the interests and principal sums on the investments in the Excess Crude Account, ECA, Petroleum Profits, PTT, and Royalty Account to the Auditor-General for the Federation’s Office.
The lawmaker stressed that there were no details as regards the principal sums deposited, the tenor and the interest rate.
His words:
"Experts have raised concerns several times over ECA’s balances which seem to change at will without any corresponding evidence of withdrawals or approvals of such withdrawals.
“The CBN has flagrantly and consistently refused the requests by the Auditor- General for the Federation to disclose the details regarding the management of interests accruing from the PPT/ Royalty and Foreign Excess Crude Account;
“Reports which revealed unapproved and indiscriminate withdrawals from the ECA, including current year expenditures, fuel subsidies, debt financing and power projects, all of which are outside the fund’s mandate."
Iyawe also added the ECA has been riddled with controversy, allegations of corruption, and uncertain performance.
He continued:
"The lack of transparency from the CBN has significantly affected the revenue accruable to the Federation Account, as well as undermines the Federal Government’s efforts to plug leakages, reduce corruption, and improve revenue for the Federation."
His motion was unanimously adopted by the members of the House of Representative.
Nigeria’s foreign reserves tumbles to lowest level in 2 years
Meanwhile, Legit.ng earlier reported that Nigeria’s foreign reserves which gives the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) the firepower to defend the naira has declined to two-year low.
According to the latest data obtained from CBN's website, Nigeria's foreign reserves dropped to $33.98 billion Wednesday, July 19th, 2023.
Source: Legit.ng
