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It is no longer news that the Nigerian Governors’ Forum approved a whopping $1 billion for the fight against Boko Haram.
What is news however, is the contradiction that arose from such approval. Many Nigerians are piqued by this turn of event, considering that a few days earlier, these same Governors were cap in hands at the presidency begging the Federal Government for bail out to pay December salaries of workers across the 36 states of the Federation.
Now, are you still surprised?
Yet, the money, according to Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, was approved by the National Economic Council (NEC), made up of the governors of the 36 states of the Federation, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and some key ministers.
The excess crude money, you may recall, is the differentials between the price of crude oil and the benchmark approved by the National Assembly.
Under the 2017 Budget, the National Assembly had approved bench mark expenditure from the revenue derived from Petroleum product sale at $44.5 USD per barrel.
When the accountant general of the federation was summoned to the 82 and last NEC meeting of the year, little did he know that he would be asked to empty the account.
He had appeared on the invitations of the governors to brief the council on the balance in the Excess Crude Account and like a very obedient servant; he had informed them that as at 13th December 2017, ECA, stood at $2.317billion dollars.
He also told them that the current balance of the stabilisation fund account as at 13th of December 2017 stood at N7.78billion.
Asked by State House Correspondents what the one billion dollars will be used for, Obaseki said “the funds will be used to procure arms, training of security personnel, as well as the much-needed logistics for the prosecution of the insurgency that had ravaged parts of the North Eastern part of Nigeria.”
According to him, “NEC arrived at the decision as part of its contribution of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum to support efforts of the Federal Government in the area of security”. adding that “we are pleased with the achievement that have been made till date in the fight against insurgency particularly in the North East, the governors of Nigeria through their chairman announced at the NEC meeting that the governors have given permission to the federal government to spend the sum of $1billion US dollars in the fight of insurgency.”
President Buhari had lately informed the country that Nigerian security forces have degraded Boko Haram’s capabilities, even as he warned that they still posed serious threats through unconventional attacks on soft spots, targeting civilians, markets, religious houses, amongst others, which have been their major targets in recent times.
Nigerians have described the action as “irrational” and ‘inexplicable’. Elder statesman, Tanko Yakassai sees the action as ‘self-serving’.
The President of Campaign for Democracy, Abdul Usman, described the action as “what happens when you have leaders who are not thinkers”.
Recall that former President Jonathan had in 2014, borrowed $1b from external sources to prosecute the war against Boko Haram, much of the funds went into the pockets of the then Service Chiefs.
The governors had recently cried out to the Federal Government, to consider those they described as “poor states” for another round of budget support that would enable them offset staff salary arrears and other allowances, especially this December.
It is on record that aside from Lagos and Rivers states, most of the states are considered as not being very financially stable, yet they did not make claim for funds to be taken from the Excess Crude fund for the purposes of dealing with the issue.
This fund has been described as the most poorly managed juxtaposed against how such funds from oil sales are managed across the world.
In Nigeria, it was estimated that the country had earned about $61.7b, as part of excess crude income, between 2011 and 2015.
Government spending from the fund is also shrouded in secrecy as government had persistently failed to disclose movement in and out of the fund save for some political and publicity reasons.
These have been well captured in the 2014 Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiatives (NEITI) data, the report noted, just over half of public revenues from oil and gas were distributed to the Federal Government and the rest were shared between the state and local governments
While it is clear that Nigerians are not averse to any measures aimed at routing the Boko Haram, the people will frown at any illicit action to defraud them, hiding under the Boko Haram war.
Tony Ailemen
