Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on Thursday told the National Economic Council (NEC) that the nation’s Excess Crude Account (ECA) is now $3.5 billion.
This according to the Minister who doubles as the Coordinator of the Economy, is after payments of fuel subsidy claims and funds due to the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P), the National Economic Council (NEC) announced on Thursday.
Briefing State House correspondents after the NEC meeting presided over by Vice President Namadi Sambo, Governor Godswil Akpabio of Akwa Ibom said the Minister gave the figure while briefing the Council on the state of the economy.
Akpabio, who briefed alongside his counterparts from Benue and Plateau, Gabriel Suswam and Jonah Jang respectively, said Council demanded that governors should be furnished with the details of spending on time.
“Council resolved that details of spending on Excess Crude be given to States on time and also urged that expeditious action be taken to sort out all the legalities surrounding the ECA,” the governor said.
Asked what efforts are being made to resolve the court case, the Supervising Minister of National Planning, Bashir Yuguda said, “The matter is in court and the general consensus is that we should wait for the outcome of the court decision on the issue.
“But, it has always been mentioned, everything the Federal government is doing is always in the open and transparent and all the Governors are aware of what we are doing with the funds”.
On why the governors elected under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) were absent, Governor Akpabio said they went for Governor Kayode Fayemi’s campaign flag off in Ekiti, adding that they all sent their deputies.
