Minister of finance, budget and national planning, Zainab Ahmed, has said money from the country’s Excess Crude Account (ECA) was used to enhance security.
The clarification followed revelation at the FAAC meeting on Tuesday that the balance in the ECA dropped from $35.37 million to $376,655 in June.
Ahmed said the last withdrawal from the account was $1 billion and just as in the past, the withdrawal was done in consultation with the governors, who are joint owners of the accounts.
“We have been utilising that — the last tranche of that has been finally released because deployment to security agencies is based on the contracts executed and it’s been used strictly for that security purpose.
“So, the utilisation of the account is with the full knowledge of the governors,” she said.
The minister explained that the account has had no accruals in the last four years because of the volatility of the commodity in the international market, adding that withdrawals have always been in consultations with NEC.
