There is no let-up in the verbal duel between Edo State Governor, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole and former Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, over her management of the nation’s finances during her tenure.
The governor yesterday took on the former minister again; saying her defence so far on her handling of the nation’s resources has not exculpated her from blame.
Oshiomhole, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Prince Kassim Afegbua, in Benin, said Okonjo- Iweala still had a case to answer, especially on the withdrawals from the Excess Crude Account totalling about $2 billion.
The governor’s fresh salvo against the former minister came against the backdrop of a report by a national newspaper (not New Telegraph) that Oshiomhole is at war with Okonjo-Iweala because of her refusal to approve loan requests totalling N15.37 billion by the governor to enable the state meet its financial obligations.
The report quoted a letter dated December 9, 2014 in which the governor sought the consent of the former minister and the Debt Management Office (DMO) for the loan, which was turned down on the excuse that granting it would be injurious to the state.
But, in a tacit rebuttal of the allegation, the governor said there was nothing personal in the fight against the former minister. Oshiomhole added that Okonjo-Iweala should, as a matter of urgency, “come clean on the issue of revenue that accrued to the Excess Crude Account.”
He challenged the former minister to tell Nigerians and the world “what happened to the ECA withdrawals.” He also criticised Okonjo- Iweala for changing her position four times in the last 40 days and that each position exposed her dubiety of facts and inherent contradictions in her defence.
While questioning “what happened to the $2.1billion ECA funds”, the governor expressed shock over “how come those accruals into the Excess Crude Account got depleted without the knowledge of the National Economic Council and how come monies that were supposed to accrue into the said account cannot be found in it going by the balance sheet provided by the former minister.” He also questioned the former minister’s right to spend funds from ECA in defiance of the constitution.
He said: “It was interesting to note that by December 2012, the ECA had a balance of over $10 billion. This had been depleted to $2.07 billion by May 2015, according to the former Finance Minister.
Between January 2013 and May 2015, not more than $4 billion was shared among the three tiers of government. Indeed, the last time any money was shared from the ECA was in May 2013.”
He queried if the former minister was not in the know that “there was no accretion to the ECA even when crude oil prices averaged between $100 to $108 within the three years period of 2011 to 2014, even when the former minister was aware that the national budgets were based on $77 and $79 oil benchmark.”
“That gives an average of $30 per barrel gains. In fact, based on rough estimates, Nigeria should earn not less than $30 billion accretion based on the official oil exports of 2.3 million barrels per day. “The question which Okonjo-Iweala could not answer is; how come Nigeria did not make any savings during those three years of unprecedented oil price boom?” a “simple question that should ordinarily elicit a simple response.”
“Without a scintilla of numerical reference, Okonjo- Iweala went into a voyage of storytelling like an intellectual raconteur, leaving out the real substance of the Comrade Governor’s salient questions.
“Among other things, she claimed that the 36 state governors who are joint owners of the Excess Crude Account (ECA) with the Federal Government were in full picture of how the ECA was managed,” he added.
The governor said contrary to the former minister’s statement, the “missing” money was neither distributed to states nor paid to the three tiers of government. “This was the rationale for the setting up of the four-man panel to look at what accrued, what it was spent for, when and by whom and who authorised the spending so that Nigerians will have full picture of all the transactions as regards the much talked about Excess Crude Account,” he stated.
The governor also faulted the former Finance Minister for running from pillar to post, stressing, “Because she plundered the resources with reckless abandon, she is now running from pillar to post without addressing the real issues.” “From the records we have seen so far and the tantrums she has been throwing rather than address the real issues, it is appropriate to conclude that she was indeed Coordinating Minister of Economic Fraud and Financial Malfeasance.
All the acclaimed World Bank experiences were just part of the hollow rituals to hoodwink the Nigerian public from addressing the real issues of mismanagement. We will continue to insist that she comes out clean, no matter how ostentatiously dramatic she chooses to go,” Oshiomhole said.
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