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NEC queries Obasanjo over oil revenue
•Reps probe N86bn ecological fund
LERE OJEDOKUN and COSMAS EKPUNOBI,
Abuja
NATIONAL
Economic Council (NEC) yesterday rose from its meeting in Abuja with a resolve
to summon President Olusegun Obasanjo to its next meeting to explain the actual
revenue accruing to the nation from excess crude oil.
NEC arrived at this decision just as the
House of Representatives commenced investigation into the alleged unauthorised
spending of about N86 billion of the ecological fund.
The Council, worried by the depreciating
value of the United States (U.S) dollar also said it was considering the
possibility of Nigeria using other currencies as benchmark instrument for our
foreign earnings.
The meeting, chaired by Vice-President
Atiku Abubakar, also urged the Debt Management Office (DMO) to urgently avail
states the exact amount of foreign debts being owed, who borrowed the monies and
for what purposes.
Those who attended the NEC meeting
included governors, deputy governors, Minister of State for Finance, Mrs Nenadi
Usman, Accountant - General of the Federation (AGF), Mr. Kayode Naiyeju and
Group Managing Director (GMD) Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Mr
Funso Kupolokun.
Briefing State House correspondents on the
outcome of the meeting, Gov. Victor Attah of Akwa Ibom State said that President
Obasanjo was expected to brief them in details on the earnings from the oil
windfall at the next meeting.
He said this would enable them to take a
firm decision on the excess revenue just as the council mandated the National
Economic Management team to come up with proposals on how to manage the revenue
accruing from it as well as price crash.
"We took a decision that we will invite Mr
President to the next meeting of the National Economic Council so that firm
decisions could be taken on how best to handle the issue of what is popularly
called excess crude oil," he said.
On the depreciation of the dollar, Gov.
Attah noted that it was time the nation considered other currencies like pounds
sterling and Euros as benchmark instrument instead of subjecting the
economy to the rise and fall of the U.S currency.
"We looked at the problem of the
depreciating value of the dollar which is what we use in benchmarking and
eventually, we believe that we would have to get into a basket of currencies for
keeping our money in future, rather than buying it only in one currency", he
said.
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