Buhari Names Committee For Sharing Excess Oil Money

President Muhammadu Buhari, on Tuesday set up a committee headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, to examine the possibility of sharing money from the Excess Crude Account, between the federal and state governments to ensure payment of salaries.

Mr. Buhari announced this while meeting with state governors at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

As part of measures to help states that owe backlogs of salaries to their workers, the president said Mr. Osinbajo’s committee should look at the Excess Crude Account and see what could be shared immediately.

While promising to assist the governors handle some of the financial challenges of their states, Mr. Buhari said that the days of impunity, lack of accountability and fiscal recklessness in the management of national resources are over.

The president also vowed that funds stolen by government officials who abused their offices in the recent past will be recovered and systemic leakages stopped.

Expressing surprise that the governors had tolerated the atrocities allegedly committed with the Excess Crude Account since 2011, President Buhari promised to tackle the issue decisively.

The president declared that the payment of national revenue into any account other than the Federation Account was an abuse of the Constitution, adding that what he had heard was going on in many agencies and corporations, particularly the NNPC, was clearly illegal.

On the refund of monies spent on federal projects by state governments, President Buhari assured the governors that the Federal Government will pay, but insisted that due process must be followed.

The President promised special assistance for the three North Eastern states badly affected by the Boko Haram insurgency.