Rivers State Governor, Mr. Chibuike Amaechi, is insisting Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala must provide answers to the six questions posed to her two weeks ago on how the petroleum sector and the country\u2019s finances have been managed.<\/p>\n
\u201cPart of the questions Rivers people seek answers are, How much oil does Nigeria produce? Where is the differential between the oil pump prices? and What price is our oil being sold for?,\u201d Rivers State Government said in a Statement signed by Commissioner for Information, Ms. Ibim Semenitari.<\/p>\n
The Rivers government said the Finance Minister must \u201cplease answer the questions it has raised and clarify the issues for Rivers people. The red herring of how much Rivers state has received from the federation account can be the matter for another day as right now those figures are not in contest, and the spat against Governor Amaechi unnecessary.<\/p>\n
\u201d\u00a0 The statement reads: \u201cFor weeks, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Honourable Minister of Finance (Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala), has continuously attacked the person and office of Rt Hon Chibuike Amaechi, Governor Rivers State and Chairman Nigeria Governor\u2019s Forum,\u201d recalled that<\/p>\n
\u201cThe minister\u2019s statements have been in response to issues raised by Governor Amaechi about the governors\u2019 concern over the management of the Excess Crude Account during the 2nd retreat of the Nigeria Governor\u2019s forum in Sokoto.\u201d It said the \u201cspat from the minister\u2019s office since the governors\u2019 complaint has been suggestive of chasing a red herring. Instead of answering the questions raised by Governor Amaechi, and clarifying the issues, the Honourable Minister is simply muddying the waters.\u201d<\/p>\n
It continued, \u201cFor the records and for the avoidance of doubt, the Rivers State Government has not at any time contested that it has received funds from the federation account. In its response to the claim by the Honourable Minister that it received N56.2 from the Excess Crude Account, the Rivers State Government simply explained the well-known fact that the monies received were from the federation account and part of its statutory allocation.<\/p>\n
All state governments receive their statutory allocation from the federation account and the Rivers State Government is no different.\u00a0 Part of our statement on the matter is repeated here for emphasis.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a position of the National Economic Council\u2019s (NEC) on the matter of the Excess Crude Account. This position is that the savings in the ECA belonging to all the states is not to be touched. Indeed this is in tandem with the position of the Honourable Minister that the ECA is savings for all to be set-aside for the rainy day and not to be \u201cshared\u201d in the manner she now seems to suggest.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 The Rivers State Government finds it curious and very disturbing that our rainy day savings has been \u201cshared\u201d in complete breach of the known procedure for doing such and in what might be considered an under the table and clandestine manner.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is evident that funds from the Excess Crude Account are not one of the statutory sources of revenue for the federation account, as was also explicitly outlined in the response of the Rivers State Government. That account is not expected to be touched except when the appropriate processes have been followed as was explained in our previous statement. It is therefore it is therefore misleading and a threat to our practice of fiscal federalism, for the Minister to suggest that the ECA is now one of the means through which the FAAC is funded and to expect the governors to know about this aberration when the Ministry of Finance hasn’t made this information public.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Rivers State Government as a policy publishes what it earns from all revenue sources and what it expends as well. Since we have nothing to hide, the Honourable Minister is welcome to re affirm these figures for the public as they are already in the public domain.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is not in the public domain and what the Rivers State government has respectfully requested the Honourable Minister to publish are the following:<\/p>\n
\u2022How much oil does Nigeria produce?<\/p>\n
\u2022 Where is the differential between the oil pump prices?<\/p>\n
\u2022 What price is our oil being sold for? \u2022<\/p>\n
How much have we earned from our crude oil sales in the last year?<\/p>\n
\u2022 What percentage of budget 2013 does our crude oil sales revenue fund?<\/p>\n
\u2022 Can the Honourable Minister assist in shedding more light on the subsidy savings since the reduction in petroleum subsidy?<\/p>\n
\u201cCertainly these figures must be as available to the Honourable Minister as are the figures of how much Rivers State has received which, by the way is not the bone of contention.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Rivers State Government therefore most respectfully wishes to request Madam Minister to please answer the questions it has raised and clarify the issues for Rivers people. The red herring of how much Rivers state has received from the federation account can be the matter for another day as right now those figures are not in contest, and the spat against Governor Amaechi unnecessary<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rivers State Governor, Mr. Chibuike Amaechi, is insisting Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala must provide answers to the six questions posed to her two weeks ago on how the petroleum sector and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20502,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n