\nOne man who is gradually becoming a bare faced liar is the Governor of Rivers state, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi. Over the weekend, he made some spurious allegations against the administration where he unsuccessfully insinuated that, the government\u00a0 has mismanaged $5 billion or N794 billion from the Excess Crude Account, ECA.
\nOn that particular day, Governor Amaechi while making his remarks in Sokoto during the so-called executive retreat by the Nigerian Governors\u2019 Forum, NGF claimed that he did not understand what happened to the savings in the ECA, which had a balance of about $9billion (N1.43 trillion) in January before being depleted to less than $4 billion (N635 billion) by November \u2013 an allusion that about $5 billion (N794 billion) may have been mismanaged.
\nHe went further to allege that, the Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister of the Economy,\u00a0 Ms. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has politicised her official decisions. He cited the application by the Rivers State Government for approval of the bid to secure a $200 million loan facility from the ADB for the execution of some water projects, which, he said, was turned down by the Minister, because of his political feud with President Goodluck Jonathan.
\nIn a sharp reaction which rubbished Amaechi\u2019s claim consequent upon which he has hidden his face in shame. Okonjo-Iweala said Amaechi is being economical with the truth about the status of the Excess Crude Account, ECA, and the situation with the loan the state government sought from the African Development Bank, ADB. She said that, with Rivers State being the second biggest beneficiary of the several withdrawals from the ECA to augment the shortfalls in the annual budget estimates, Mr. Amaechi could not deny knowledge of the status of the account.
\n\u201cRivers State has received N56.2 billion from the Excess Crude Account between January and September 2013,\u201d the Minister said in a statement by the Federal Ministry of Finance, adding that this amount included N43 billion for shortfalls, plus N12 billion released for SURE-P, she stressed.
\nAlso, she said, Rivers State along with other states, earlier in November, also benefitted from the sharing of $1 billion (N158.9 billion) withdrawal from the ECA to augment the statutory revenue allocations to the three tiers of government for October.
\nWhile describing claims that $5 billion was missing from the ECA as \u201cabsolutely shocking and false\u201d, the minister said Mr. Amaechi was closely involved and actively participated in making requests to the presidency for the account to be shared for the purpose of augmenting the regular allocations from the Federation Account whenever there was a shortfall.
\n\u201cThe $5 billion in the ECA, which Governor Amaechi referred to, has been shared to the three tiers of government to make up for the revenue shortfalls during the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee process,\u201d she said.
\nShe added that it was curious that the governor did not to know the whereabouts of the N56.2 billion, which Rivers State received from the ECA this year.Part of the fund, the minister said, also went for the Subsidy Re-investment and Empowerment Programme, SURE-P, payments and the balance for subsidy payments to petroleum products marketers.
\nMs. Okonjo-Iweala dismissed the claim that she refused to sign the document giving approval for the ADB loan for a water project in Port Harcourt, describing the claim as wrong and misleading.
\nIt was gathered that the loan in question had since been appraised by the Federal Ministry of Finance but yet to be negotiated by all the parties involved. But what Amaechi wanted to see is a situation where due process will be circumvented. But under normal circumstances before such document be signed or given the final approval, the loan application had to go through the negotiation processes, considered and cleared by both the Board of ADB and the Executive Council of the Federation, FEC.
\n\u201cSo the issue of the minister refusing to sign it (the application for the loan) simply does not arise Dr.Okonjo-Iweala handles issues concerning the states on the basis of professionalism and equity\u201d, it was maintained
\nEarlier, Okonjo-Iweala had explained to the lawmakers that allegations that about $1.03 billion (about N161.7 billion) was missing from the Excess Crude Account, ECA were completely baseless.
\nThe Special Adviser to the Minister on Media, Paul Nwabuikwu, described the allegations as \u201ctotally inaccurate\u201d, saying the report was a misrepresentation of what actually transpired during the appearance of the Minister before the joint Finance Committees of the National Assembly.
\n\u201cThe Minister had responded forthrightly to questions on the current level of the ECA and there was no disagreement as such. The balance in the account as stated by the minister is $4.3 billion, and it\u2019s intact,\u201d Mr. Nwabuikwu said.
\nIn another matter, Amaechi announced that some of the governors who came to visit him were stoned at the airport by people a group he (Amaechi) said was supporting Education Minister, Ezenwa Nyisom Wike.
\nShortly after he said that, the Northern States Governors Forum (NSGF) Chairman and Governor of Niger State, Dr. Mu\u2019azu Babangida Aliyu denied such reports. Aliyu stated categorically denied that neither did himself nor any of his four colleagues were pelted and or held hostage at the Port Harcourt International Airport, by some sponsored political miscreants.<\/p>\n
Although he acknowledged that some pro and anti-Amaechi youths, carrying placards with various inscriptions were at the airport on their arrival, Governor Aliyu said nothing was done to them as they drove, with Governor Amaechi driving, through the city and even inspected some on-going projects being executed by the governor. He wondered where such a ridiculous story might have emanated from.<\/p>\n
In the immediate past too, precisely on 25th September, Amaechi assembled some of his loyalists to stage a protest against President Goodluck Jonathan administration. He was however quick to cry foul that the gathering was to give employment letters to a whooping Thirteen thousand newly recruited teachers. The assembly was an illegal one as there was no police permit was obtained to that effect.<\/p>\n
The State Ministry of Education was playing politics with the recruitment of 13,000 teachers whereas informed sources said it was only about 5,000 that were actually recruited.
\nA reliable source within the Ministry has it that the ministry had published names of about 7,000 applicants out of the over 13,000 applications received and initially published.
\nIt also went further to clarify that, of the 7,000 short listed as successful applicants only about 5,000 were later chosen and issued the appointment letters.<\/p>\n
The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Ahmad Muhammad (DSP), said intelligence reports had revealed that the crowd intended to embark on a public protest in the state capital, adding that the state government did not get permission from the police before gathering the teachers.
\nMohammed said: \u201cIntelligence reports at our disposal revealed that those who gathered at the Liberation Stadium intended to embark on a public protest. As required, the Rivers State government is supposed to inform the police about such gathering, as you know, but they never did.
\n\u201cSo we sent our men to stop the gathering to avoid a breakdown of law and order. Let me use this medium to remind members of the public that the ban on public protest is still in force. Please note that we acted based on intelligence reports.\u201d<\/p>\n
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