Controversy is currently swirling around the approval given by National Economic Council for the Federal Government to withdraw $1billion from the Excess Crude Account [ECA] and use it to fight Boko Haram. NEC’s decision was announced by Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki after its meeting chaired by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Thursday, December 14. ECA currently has a balance of $2.3bn which belongs to the three tiers of government. Obaseki said council members expect that the money would be spent on the purchase of security equipment, procurement of intelligence and logistics, among others.
It soon turned out that not all state governors agreed with the decision. The enfant terrible of Nigerian governors, Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State, alleged that the money was meant to fund President Muhammadu Buhari’s 2019 presidential campaign. He said, “I was not among the governors who approved the withdrawal of almost half of our savings in the Excess Crude Account, which belongs to the three tiers of government to fight an already defeated insurgency. Since they said they have defeated Boko Haram, what else do they need a whopping sum of $1 billion (over N360 billion) for, if not to fund the 2019 elections?”
Two more governors also objected to the plan. Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike said “more than anywhere else, the Niger Delta deserves a share of the money to tackle decades of environmental terrorism unleashed by exploitation.” Governor of Akwa Ibom Udom Emmanuel followed suit, saying “There should be balance in the way the Federal Government handles issues affecting different parts of the country. We are not saying that the Federal Government should not tackle Boko Haram. But as they tackle Boko Haram with $1 billion, they must remember that the environmental challenge facing the Niger Delta is the major security challenge. If something happens or there is a crisis in the Niger Delta, there will be no excess crude for anyone to draw from.” Emmanuel said “most governors from the South-South were not present when NEC made the decision.” Many NGOs also criticised the plan as lacking in transparency at least and unconstitutional at worst.
However, Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum [NGF] Abdul-Aziz Yari of Zamfara State defended the decision, saying 32 of 36 governors were present when the decision was taken. The NGF chairman said, “NGF discussed this issue at our November meeting and we agreed across party lines that this thing has been done in 2014 where $2 billion was taken in agreement with the governors at that meeting…This time we realize that there was need to purchase equipment for the military, so we felt we should not compromise the issue of security for the entire country…We agreed to forfeit $1 billion, our share of Excess Crude Account which we are going to back up with state assembly resolution at a later time. This is not the first time a decision like this is being taken. It happened during Jonathan’s era when they took $2 billion.” The governors followed up on this by taking Speakers of their Houses of Assembly to the Presidential Villa, where they also pledged to support the move.
From all indications the overwhelming majority of the governors, across party lines, supported the plan but this may not be enough. Unanimity may be required because a serious constitutional issue is involved, and it is doubtful if money statutorily due to any state could be taken over by the Federal Government without its consent. Besides, local councils also have a certain share of the Excess Crude Account and their consent was apparently not sought before the decision was taken. Governor Fayose seized upon this Achilles’’ heel and encouraged his state’s sixteen local councils to go to court and seek an injunction to stop the plan until their substantive case is heard.
For Nigerians as a whole, matters are not helped by the fact that the Federal Government did not say exactly what it will do with the money, beyond fighting Boko Haram. Even that explanation changed last week when Vice President Prof Yemi Osinbajo said the money will be used for other security challenges as well, not just Boko Haram. Maybe he said so in order to assuage the feelings of governors who were protesting. Unfortunately for the federal government, its cascade of revelations about the abuse of defence spending by the former administration has made Nigerians suspicious of ALL defence spending.
The secrecy with which governments tend to shroud security spending does not help matters at all, and the fact that elections are approaching can only heighten suspicions. Only the utmost transparency will help this matter, for government to say exactly what equipment is to be procured and at what cost, and for the National Assembly and citizens to closely monitor it and ensure that this is done. The Buhari Administration must not assume that Nigerians should trust it not to embezzle these funds because of its anti-corruption stance, which itself has suffered many setbacks.
Then also, there is the aspect of appropriation. No public funds should legally be spent without appropriation, whether for security or any other thing. It was that practice under previous regimes that opened the floodgate to corruption through extra-budgetary spending. We must not go down that path again. The Senate is already set to debate this whole matter when it resumes from its break in January. We urge the presidency to cooperate fully with it so that Nigerians would be reassured that things will not go horribly wrong this time around.
