Governor Chukwuma Soludo has written to the Anambra State House of Assembly requesting the lawmakers to authorize the Federal Government to deduct domestic liability from the outstanding sixty percent refund due to states from the unauthorized debit/withdrawals in the Excess Crude Account (ECA) petroleum profit tax of the federation.
Anambra Assembly Speaker, Rt. Hon. Uche Okafor who read the letter at plenary, assured Soludo of the support from the lawmakers.
The said letter read thus in part, “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 due share of sixty 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 its 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 monies belonging to the state which were withheld.
“The Excess Crude Account (ECA) is a fund established in 2004 by the federal government as a fiscal 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 portion 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 were unapproved debit transactions by the federal government in excess crude.
“I urge the house of assembly to consider this request and issue a resolution authorizing the federal government to utilize sixty percent of Anambra State entitlement to offset the state domestic debt liabilities to the federal government of Nigeria.”
