The Accountant-General of the Federation Alhaji Ahmed Idris,
yesterday said the bailout funds for states are not coming from the $2.1
billion in the Excess Crude Account.
He said the cash was sourced from the accrued Company Income Tax (CIT) realised from the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)
He said the funds in Excess Crude Account were intact and the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari was yet to touch it.
The AGF made the clarification in a statement through Kenechukwu N. Offie, the Head of Press in his Office.
There have been allegations that the President emptied the treasury to rescue cash-strapped states, which are unable to pay their workers.
The statement said: “The Accountant-General of the Federation Alhaji Ahmed Idris has noted with great concern that the information in the public domain is inconsistent with the details of the amount distributed at the emergency Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting held on Monday 6th July 2015.
“Consequently, it has become necessary to provide further clarification about the outcome of the said emergency FAAC meeting.
•That the amount distributed was not from the Excess Crude Account ECA but rather the accrued Company Income Tax (CIT) realised from the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) N359, 374,355, 607.60
•That the amount that was distributed was less the cost of collection
•The Federal government got 56.68% amounting to N181,745,674,112.72
•The State governments got 26.72% amounting to N92,183,834,705.62
•Local government councils got 20.60% amounting to N71, 069,872,564.96.
“The Accountant-General of the Federation, Alhaji Ahmed Idris, makes this clarification in order to provide Nigerians with the correct and authentic information about the outcome of the proceedings at the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee meeting held on Monday 6th July 2015.
“The public is also invited to please note that no withdrawal was made from the Excess Crude Account (ECA) and that the current balance still remains $2.1 billion.”
Also yesterday, the Presidency denied approving sharing of the balance in the Excess Crude Account.
Special Adviser on Media and Publicity Femi Adesina said: “Reports in sections of the media today that funds will be drawn from the Excess Crude Account for the relief package approved by President Muhammadu Buhari for states and local governments are incorrect.
”For the purpose of greater clarity on the matter, the measures approved by President Buhari to deal with the problem of unpaid public sector salaries in many states are as follows:
”•The sharing of the $2.1 billion dividend paid to the Federation Account by the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Company (NLNG);
“•A Central Bank-packaged special intervention fund that will offer financing to the states, ranging from N250 billion to N300 billion. This will be a soft loan available to states for the purposes of paying backlog of salaries; and
“•A debt relief programme designed by the Debt Management Office which will help states restructure their commercial loans currently put at over N660 Billion, and extend the life span of such loans while reducing their debt-servicing expenditures.
“The measures approved by President Buhari definitely do not include drawing down the remaining balance in the Excess Crude Account or the ‘liquidation’ of the account as some media outlets have wrongly reported.
“No such decision has been taken or approved by President Buhari, and last week’s meeting of the National Economic Council clearly concluded that the Excess Crude Account should be left untouched at this time.”
He said the cash was sourced from the accrued Company Income Tax (CIT) realised from the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)
He said the funds in Excess Crude Account were intact and the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari was yet to touch it.
The AGF made the clarification in a statement through Kenechukwu N. Offie, the Head of Press in his Office.
There have been allegations that the President emptied the treasury to rescue cash-strapped states, which are unable to pay their workers.
The statement said: “The Accountant-General of the Federation Alhaji Ahmed Idris has noted with great concern that the information in the public domain is inconsistent with the details of the amount distributed at the emergency Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting held on Monday 6th July 2015.
“Consequently, it has become necessary to provide further clarification about the outcome of the said emergency FAAC meeting.
•That the amount distributed was not from the Excess Crude Account ECA but rather the accrued Company Income Tax (CIT) realised from the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) N359, 374,355, 607.60
•That the amount that was distributed was less the cost of collection
•The Federal government got 56.68% amounting to N181,745,674,112.72
•The State governments got 26.72% amounting to N92,183,834,705.62
•Local government councils got 20.60% amounting to N71, 069,872,564.96.
“The Accountant-General of the Federation, Alhaji Ahmed Idris, makes this clarification in order to provide Nigerians with the correct and authentic information about the outcome of the proceedings at the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee meeting held on Monday 6th July 2015.
“The public is also invited to please note that no withdrawal was made from the Excess Crude Account (ECA) and that the current balance still remains $2.1 billion.”
Also yesterday, the Presidency denied approving sharing of the balance in the Excess Crude Account.
Special Adviser on Media and Publicity Femi Adesina said: “Reports in sections of the media today that funds will be drawn from the Excess Crude Account for the relief package approved by President Muhammadu Buhari for states and local governments are incorrect.
”For the purpose of greater clarity on the matter, the measures approved by President Buhari to deal with the problem of unpaid public sector salaries in many states are as follows:
”•The sharing of the $2.1 billion dividend paid to the Federation Account by the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Company (NLNG);
“•A Central Bank-packaged special intervention fund that will offer financing to the states, ranging from N250 billion to N300 billion. This will be a soft loan available to states for the purposes of paying backlog of salaries; and
“•A debt relief programme designed by the Debt Management Office which will help states restructure their commercial loans currently put at over N660 Billion, and extend the life span of such loans while reducing their debt-servicing expenditures.
“The measures approved by President Buhari definitely do not include drawing down the remaining balance in the Excess Crude Account or the ‘liquidation’ of the account as some media outlets have wrongly reported.
“No such decision has been taken or approved by President Buhari, and last week’s meeting of the National Economic Council clearly concluded that the Excess Crude Account should be left untouched at this time.”
No comments:
Post a Comment