The Senate has described Excess Crude Account (ECA) as illegal, and called on the Federal Government to urgently abolish it.
The ECA was set up in 2004 ostensibly to provide savings for the country during periods of shortfalls in oil revenue.
The Senators argued Monday that the move to scrap it became imperative because it is alien to the 1999 constitution as amended or any known law in the country.
“The executive should act in conformity with sections 80 (1-4) and 162 (1-3) of the 1999 Constitution as amended in its revenue receipt and expenditure,” they cited, alleging that ECA constitutes the “biggest slush fund” for governors.
The resolutions of the Senate were sequel to a motion by Senator Rose Oko, PDP, Cross River North, co-sponsored by 43 other Senators entitled, “The Excess Crude Account: an Illegality and a Drainpipe.”
In the motion, Senator Oko had called for the suspension of the Excess Crude Account, but there was an amendment to the prayer by Senator Muhammed Hassan, PDP, Yobe South, that rather than suspend, the motion should be to abolish the Excess Crude Account. This was unanimously accepted by Senators.
The upper chamber also asked the Federal Government to pay the amount above the oil benchmark into the Federation Account in compliance with the Constitution and appropriate some of the amount above the oil benchmark into the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority, NSIA, and other sectors.
The Senate, however, rejected the last prayer in the motion that Senators should mandate an Ad-hoc Committee to investigate the revenue that accrued from the amount above the oil benchmark from 2004 to date and its utilization.
The committee is also charged with the responsibility of identifying any further infractions and report within two months.
The Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki, thereafter, put the prayer to voice vote and the nays had it.
This led to a rejection of the prayer that called for probe of the utilization of the Excess Crude Account from 2004 to date.
The rejection of the prayer may be in connection with the composition of 8th Senate which has in its fold 16 former civilian governors and two ex-deputy governors whose presence or body language may have forced the Senate to unanimously reject what should have been a holistic investigation into the Account and to ascertain the roles of former and present governors in the management of the ECA.
At the moment, the Senate has 16 former governors, including the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki, APC, Kwara Central; the Senator Minority leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio, PDP, Akwa Ibom North West; Senators Theordore Orji, PDP, Abia Central; Andy Uba, APC, Anambra South; Samuel Egwu, PDP, Ebonyi North; George Akume, APC, Benue North West; Shaaba Lafiagi, APC, Kwara North and Abdullahi Adamu.
Other former governors are Senators Joshua Dariye, APC, Plateau Central; Jonah Jang, PDP, Plateau North; Danjuma Goje, APC, Gombe Central; Bukar Abba Ibrahim, APC, Yobe East; Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, APC, Kano South; Kabiru Ibrahim Gaya, APC, Kano South; Adamu Aliero, APC, Kebbi Central; Aliyu Wamakko, APC, Sokoto South and Ahmad Rufai Sani, APC, Zamfara West.
The two former governors in the present Senate are Senators Enyinnaya Abaribe, PDP, Abia South and Biodun Olujimi, PDP, Ekiti South.
Earlier in her presentation, Senator Oko said: “The Senate notes that the Excess Crude Account, ECA, was set up in 2004, ostensibly to provide savings for the country and stabilization for the economy during periods of shortfalls in oil revenue.
“It also notes that the accruals to the ECA was expected to be the amount above the benchmark of crude oil sales; concerned that the ECA is alien to the 1999 constitution as amended or any known law in the country;
“It is worried that the ECA is not in tandem with sections 80 (1-4) and 162 (1-3) of the 1999 Constitution, which prescribes revenue receipts and expenditure; alarmed that these breaches of the constitution in setting up and operating the ECA have created room for a pool of funds from revenue accruing to the Federation being operated without legal backing and without any checks and balances, thereby providing loopholes for imprudence and financial recklessness;
“The Senate is further alarmed that a report by the National Resource Governance Institute rates Nigeria’s Excess Crude Account as one of the most poorly managed around the world, where its operation is discretionary and at the whims of the executive;
“It notes that for instance, it was reported that the ECA increased from $5.16 billion in 2005 to over $20 billion in 2008, and decreased to less than $4billion by 2010 with no known tracking of its operations;
“It further notes that at various times and from several quarters in 2013, it was purported that $5billion was missing from the ECA, and that $2billion was withdrawn without authorization; concerned that these accusations between tiers of government portray a financial system that is flawed and without probity;
“The Senate observes that by May 2017, government announced a resumption of payment into the ECA of $87million ostensibly since May, 2015 arbitrarily; further observes that however, between May, 2015 and August, 2017, about US $122.2million had accrued and ought to have been paid to the ECA;
“It’s deeply saddened by the continued impunity of the ECA and its discretionary operation in contravention of the 1999 Constitution, creating room for imprudence, recklessness and arbitrariness; very concerned that this is one veritable source of huge revenue leakage in the country;
“It also notes that the on-going amendment of section 162 of the 1999 Constitution as amended, is expected to cure the problem of savings for the nation that is rooted in the constitution; believes that before that is done, the nation cannot continue to operate an appreciable quantum of revenue arbitrarily, outside the law with no checks and balances.”
In his contributions, Senator Adamu Aliero, APC, Kebbi Central, who supported the abolition of the ECA, however, recalled that it was introduced during former President Olusegun Obasanjo administration to protect planned budgets against shortfalls due to volatile crude oil prices.
According to him, if the account, out of which the independent power project, IPP, among others sponsored was stopped, it would ensure transparency and accountability in revenue generation and payment into the Federation Account.
Also contributing, Senator Mao Ohuabunwa, PDP, Abia North, argued that the ECA should be abolished, despite the fact that there was the need for the country to save for the rainy day due to alleged impunity and arbitrariness in the account’s operation.
He, however called for the setting up of an ad-hoc committee to investigate the revenue that accrued from the country’s oil benchmark from 2004.
Speaking in the same vein, Senator Atai Ali Aidoko, PDP, PDP Kogi East, described the present operations of ECA as the “biggest slush fund” in the country for governors, adding that one-third of the spending were done with illegality.
In his contribution, Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi, APC, Kaduna North, who advised the National Assembly to look into how to regulate the ECA for surplus funding rather than its complete abrogation, said the exigency of the time called for the introduction of the account.
