SAN FRANCISCO, July 20, (THEWILL) – The National Economic Council, NEC, on Thursday received the interim report on forensic audit of revenue accrued into Federation Account, Excess Crude Account and Consolidated Revenue Fund from revenue-generating agencies.
Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia stated this when he addressed State House correspondents on the outcome of the NEC meeting, which was presided over by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo in the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He disclosed that Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe State, who chaired the Audit Committee, presented the report to the council.
Ikpeazu added that the Acting President welcomed the interim report and noted that “Council will await the outcome of the final report and then discuss the report”.
He stated that the Accountant General of the Federation, Alhaji Ahmed Idris, briefed the NEC on the balances in the Excess Crude Account; Ecological Fund Account; Stabilization Account and Development of Natural Resources Account as at July 13.
He said, “I also want to brief specifically on the report we got from the Accountant General’s Office on the Excess Crude Account and related matters.
“The balances as at July 13, 2017 are as follow: Excess Crude Account (ECA) has $2.303 billion; Ecological Fund has N27.466 billion; Stabilization Account has N2.553 billion and the Development of Natural Resources Account has N77.922 billion.”
Also during the council meeting, the Ad Hoc Committee on Ecological Fund submitted its final report, wherein it recommended robust governance structure and stringent disbursement criteria to sanitise the management of the fund.
Part of the recommendations of the committee, which was headed by Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, was that disbursement of the ecological fund should be based on the following criteria:
“Physical visitation by the ecological office team and on the spot assessment and verification of the ecological disaster.
“Technical evaluation of the disaster by experts; community involvement Prior to the disaster, there must be evidence of advocacy; evidence of existing prompt, emergency response mechanism in place before the disaster.
“Monitoring and evaluation framework must be built into the application of ecological fund as a road map for measuring performance of the fund; a feedback team that will review the reports of the disbursement must be in place.
“Adequate publicity of ecological disaster to create awareness and consciousness in the citizenry to avoid future occurrence is necessary; evidence of cost estimate must be attached to application.
“Adequate justification for the project must be given; due process in vendor engagement must be followed; at all times, 50% of the Federal Government share or N20 billion must be reserved for emergencies at the discretion of Mr. President.’’
The Abia governor continued that the Council commended the El-Rufai-led committee for carrying out a painstaking job and assured that the Federal Government would consider recommendations made in the report.
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