The National Economic Council, (NEC) yesterday resolved to begin their probe of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, (NNPC), the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety (NIMASA), Nigerian Ports Authority, (NPA) amongst others for allegedly remitting into Federal Government treasury accounts in local currency, revenues collected on behalf of the government in dollars.
The council also confirmed that the Excess Crude Account(ECA) had a total of $2.25billion in its coffers as at yesterday, just as the federal government raised the hopes of states governments being owed money from the execution of federal roads as well as those being affected by flooding.
Briefing State House correspondents after the NEC meeting, Cross River State Governor, Ben Ayade said the decision to probe the revenue-generating agencies, followed the briefing by the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele on the activities of the agencies.
Key agencies named, include the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, (NNPC), the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety (NIMASA), Nigerian Ports Authority, (NPA) amongst others, saying the investigations would continue until the circumstances behind the action were unraveled. But he did not give details of the financial implication.
Flanked by his colleagues from Ondo, Segun Mimiko; Taraba, Darius Ishaku and Sokoto’s , Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, Ayade said: “The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance briefed the Council on the excess crude account, which stands at $2.25b as at October 15th. The Council took note of this figure.”
He also said that the CBN boss briefed the Council on the provision of concessionary loans to states based on collaterisation of the excess crude account, noting that 27 states have made requests for the N10 billion facility, and is currently being processed.
