Nigeria’s Excess Crude Account hits $2.09b

The Nation’s Excess Crude Account has hit $2.09 billion as at Oct. 16.

The Bauchi State Governor, Mohammed Abubakar, who unveiled this to journalists on Thursday after the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting which held in Abuja explained that the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, gave the update on the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), Excess Crude Account, Stabilization Fund Account and Natural Resources Development Account.

“She presented a budget estimate for the FAAC meetings of 2018; usually these budgets estimates are prepared by the Office of Accountant General and tabled before the NEC for approval.

“A total budget of N650 million was approved for the conduct of the FAAC meetings for 2018, later on the minister gave update of the Excess Crude Account as at Oct. 16, 2018 which stood at 2.09 billion dollars.

“The Stabilization Fund Account stands at N21.9 billion and then the Natural Resources Development Fund stands at N119.7 billion.’’

He said that there was also an update on the ad hoc committee set up by NEC to address the problem of crude oil theft and its prevention and control.

Abubakar said that the committee used to be headed by the then Governor of Delta State, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan, but NEC had approved the nomination of Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, to head the committee.

The other governor members of this committee are governors of Akwa Ibom State, Delta, Bayelsa, Cross River and Ondo.

He listed other members of the committee as the Ministers of Budget and Planning, Finance, Petroleum Resources, and representatives of the all the security agencies in Nigeria.