Amaechi lied, $5 billion not missing from ECA - Okonjo-Iweala

The Federal Government of Nigeria has dismissed as preposterous the allegation by  Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State that there was $5 billion missing from the excess crude account when his state has benefitted from the money.

The government said that the governor's claims were false and that he was well aware of the management of the funds.

'Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State has been quoted in recent media reports as saying that $5bn is missing from the ECA. This statement is absolutely shocking and false,' , the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said in a statement on Monday .

She said that the River’s state government had received N56.2 billion in the first nine months of this year from the account.

Okonjo-Iweala said,  'The governor cannot credibly deny knowledge of the status of the ECA. He has been closely involved and actively participated in making requests to the Presidency for the ECA to be shared for the purpose of augmenting the regular allocations from the Federation Account whenever there is a shortfall.

'The $5bn in the ECA, which Governor Amaechi referred to in his statement, has been shared to the three tiers of government to make up for revenue shortfalls during the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee process. Part of this fund also went for SURE-P payments and the balance for subsidy payments to oil marketers.'