National Economic Council (NEC) chaired by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo on Thursday received the interim report on Forensic Audit of Revenue Accrued from Revenue Generating Agencies (RGAs) into Federation Account, Excess Crude Account and Consolidated Revenue Fund.
Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, made the disclosure to newsmen during briefing on the outcome of the NEC meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He said that Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe State, who chaired the Audit Committee, presented the report to the Council.
He stated that the acting President welcomed the Interim Report and noted that “Council will await the outcome of the final report and then discuss the Report’’.
The governor said Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, briefed Council on the balances in the Excess Crude Account; Ecological Fund Account; Stabilization Account and Development of Natural Resources Account as at July 13.
“I also want to brief specifically on the report we got from the Accountant General’s Office on the Excess Crude Account and related matters”.
“The balances as at July 13, 2017 are as follow: Excess Crude Account (ECA) has 2.303 billion dollars; Ecological Fund has 27.466 billion naira; Stabilization Account has 2.553 billion naira and the Development of Natural Resources Account has 77.922 billion naira.
Ikpeazu also disclosed that the Ad Hoc Committee on Ecological Fund submitted its final report to the Council, and recommended robust governance structure and stringent disbursement criteria to sanitize the management of the fund.
The committee, which was headed Governor Nasiru El-Rufai of Kaduna State, recommended among others, that disbursement of the fund should be based on the following criteria; “Physical visitation by the Ecological office team and on the spot assessment and verification of the ecological disaster.
“Technical evaluation of the disaster by experts; “community involvement Prior to the disaster, there must be evidence of advocacy; evidence of existing prompt, emergency response mechanism in place before the disaster.
“Monitoring and Evaluation framework must be built into the application of ecological fund as a road map for measuring performance of the fund; a feedback team that will review the reports of the disbursement must be in place.
“Adequate publicity of ecological disaster to create awareness and consciousness in the citizenry to avoid future occurrence is necessary; evidence of cost estimate must be attached to application.
“Adequate justification for the project must be given; due process in vendor engagement must be followed; at all times, 50% of the FG share or N20 billion must be reserved for emergencies at the discretion of Mr President.
“Minister of Communication, Adebayo Shittu, presented a memo to Council on need for harmonization of the Right of way charges in respect of telecommunication and related public utility infrastructure on Local Governments, States and Federal Highways.
”The memo spelt out roles/responsibilities of Local Councils, States and telecommunication operators in the management of Right of Way (ROW) issues.
“Council asked his Ministry to liaise with the States and relevant stakeholders for the smooth implementation of the ROW project.”
