By Tonye Barcanista
I read a Nairaland publication credited to one Mr Ajuri Ngelale, a Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Public Affairs under the office of the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Muhammed, titled “Ajuri Ngelale Berates PDP For Attempting To Come Back In 2023”.
In the said piece, Mr Ajuri turned every fact up side down by blaming the three administrations of Peoples Democratic Party as being responsible for the growing debt, depleted Excess Crude Account (ECA) and even hid the fraudulent payment on fuel subsidy by the Buhari led All Progressives Congress administration.
Ordinarily, statements credited to the APC Federal Government and their agents are usually ignored due to their infamy in falsehood and misrepresentation of facts – especially those emanating from the office of the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Muhammed – the infamous lying machine. But I will respond to the issues for the purpose of record and posterity
Here are the facts:
ON EXCESS CRUDE ACCOUNT (ECA):
Firstly, let me explain what ECA means so that Nigerians can relate with the conversation.
The ECA is a fiscal account of the federation that was created by the PDP led administration of Obasanjo/Atiku to save revenues in excess of the budgetary benchmark price that was generated from the sale of oil. In layman terms, every year year the Nigeria government plan its budget based on a specific oil benchmark, when oil sells above this benchmark within the year the excess (extra) is paid into the ECA. The purpose of the ECA Is to address Nigeria’s problem during hard times. The PDP administrations of Yar’adua/Jonathan and Jonathan/Sambo between 2007 and 2015 maintained this account, grew it when oil sales is in excess of benchmark and tap from it to address Nigeria’s needs when necessary.
As at May 29, 2015 when Goodluck Jonathan/Namadi Sambo government was leaving office, the ECA stood at $2.1 billion – the ECA would have been more than the amount were it not for decline in oil prices in 2014 and pressure by Governors Forum led by Rotimi Amaechi for the money to be shared.
ECA Under Buhari
When Buhari took over office, the depletion of the ECA took a very aggressive and disturbing dimension. It fell from $2.1bn to a meagre $35.368 million as at January 2022. This is against the fact that the price oil has been selling far above the oil benchmark since 2021. Speaking in figures, the approved oil benchmark for 2021 was $40 per barrel but throughout the year, the price of crude oil on average was far above that. In year 2021, Crude oil sold for $54.77 in January, $62.28 in February,$65.41 in March, April ($64.81), May ($68.53), June $73.16, July $73.17, August: $70.75, September $74.49, October $83.54, November $81.05 and December $74.17. In the 2022 budget the oil benchmark is at $64 per barrel, however crude Oil sold on average at $94 in January, $96 in February, March ($112), April ($113), May ($115), June ($118), July ($106), August ($98) and it currently sells for $94 per barrel in September 2022.
Naturally with the magnificent increase in Oil prices against the benchmark, the ECA should have seen growth in 2021 and 2022, but what we have under the administration is further depletion. The ECA fell to $60million in October 2021 and $35.368 million in January 2022, and as at July 2022, the ECA was further depleted to a paltry $376k (yes you read well) despite increase in Oil prices.
ref: https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2022/07/27/nigerias-excess-crude-account-shrinks-from-35-37m-to-376655/
ON SUBSIDY PAYMENT CLAIM
Mr Ajuri cleverly avoided quoting payment made by Buhari administration in naira simply because he knows that doing so will expose the abnormalities of the Federal government. Here are the facts;
Between 2006-2015 (9 year period), PDP administrations spent N8.9 trillion on subsidy according to the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) in September 2020 report
https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/416258-nigeria-spent-n8-9-trillion-on-subsidy-in-10-years-pppra.html
Since the Buhari administration came to power in just 6 years, at least more than 9 trillion naira has been spent on Oil subsidy alone. Specifically, N1.266trn was spent on Subsidy in 2017, N691.586b in 2018, N537.209b in 2019, N1.33625trn in 2020 and N1.159trn in 2021 according to figures from the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (ref: https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2022/07/06/n4-194trn-petrol-subsidy-paid-from-federation-account-in-five-years-oagf-reveals/). In the 2022 budget the National Assembly approved a whopping N4trilion naira on subsidy payment but the amount spent on Subsidy payment in 2022 alone could be more than the approved N4trillion when you consider the fact that NNPC told the National Assembly that 2022 subsidy payment cost them N6.4 trillion – a claim that even the CG Customs, Hameed Ali labelled as fraudulent and unjustifiable (https://punchng.com/nnpc-cant-justify-n6-34tn-petrol-subsidy-customs/).
Furthermore, in the proposed 2023 Budget, the Buhari government has proposed a whopping N6.7 trillion for subsidy payment in 2023 (ref: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2022/07/fg-records-n3trn-budget-deficit-to-spend-n6-72trn-on-subsidy-in-2023/). If the request is approved, it means under 7 years, the Buhari government will spend N15.7 trillion on subsidy as against N8.9 trillion of the PDP administrations.
The twist in this is that the FG had at different times announced removal of subsidy on petrol which led to hike in the pump price of the product, yet subsidy keep increasing. Ridiculous? Yes!
Going by the above facts, it is very glaring that while the PDP created the ECA from $0 and handed it to APC government in 2015 at $2.1bn, the APC government mismanaged and depleted it to a paltry $374k (as at July 2022) despite the relative oil boom in the last 24 months. It is equally clear that the APC paid ridiculous and unjustified amount on payment of fuel subsidy that is almost double to what PDP paid while in government.
Considering the above, it makes sense as to the reason Nigerians are seeking a return of PDP government. Fortunately, His Excellency, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of PDP was the leader of the Economic Management Team as Chairman of Nigeria Economic Council that birthed the ECA which the outgoing APC government successfully mismanaged. It is our informed belief that having done it before, Atiku Abubakar will do it again when elected President of Nigeria in 2023.
