Governor Soludo Seeks Anambra State Assembly’s Support in Recovering ECA Funds
Chinwe Onuigbo, Awka
The Governor of Anambra State, south east Nigeria, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, has written to the State Assembly, requesting the lawmakers to authorise the Federal Government to deduct domestic liability from the outstanding 60 percent refund due to states from the unauthorised debit/withdrawals in the Excess Crude Account (ECA) petroleum profit tax of the federation.
Anambra State Assembly Speaker, Uche Okafor who read the letter at plenary assured Soludo of the support from the lawmakers.
Part of the letter reads:
“This request is being presented to the honourable house of assembly to enable Anambra State join other states under the umbrella of the Nigeria Governor’s Forum to recover its fair and duo share of 60 percent of the unapproved and uniletarial withdrawal from the royalties account within the period of January 2009 – December 2015.
“It is important for Anambra State government to use this opportunity to join other states of the federation to reconcile and increase it’s domestic responsibility to the federal government.
“The Nigeria Governors forum had appointed a team of consultants with other terms of reference to assist the state in recovering all money belonging to the state which where withheld.
“The Excess Crude Account (ECA) is a fund established in 2004 by the national government as a physical account. The account was intended to smooth the impact of price in oil export.
“ECA is a federation account with ownership vested in three tiers of government. This ownership structure, requires all major withdrawals to be endorsed by state house of assembly with respect to the potion belonging to the state.
“The findings of the reconciliation excesses between the consultant and the officials of the office of accountant general of the federation, determined that there where unapproved debit transactions by the federal government in excess Crude.”
The governor urged the house of assembly to consider the request and issue a resolution authorising the federal government to utilise 60 percent of Anambra State’s entitlement to offset the state domestic debt liabilities to the federal government of Nigeria.
