Abacha loot balance now N13.9bn – FG
By; Sunday Ode, Abuja.
Only about 26.389 000 dollars and another 19.033 000 pound sterling, which is about N13.932 billion, at the current exchange rate, is all that is left from the monies so far recovered from the foreign accounts of the late former Head of State, General Sani Abacha.
The National Economic Council (NEC) disclosed this after its meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja,, following a briefing by the Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris.
Briefing State House Correspondents on the outcome of the meeting that lasted for over five hours, Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom
said the balance was as at November 2015.
Popularly referred to as Abacha loot, the recovered stolen funds from the late Head of State has been a subject of controversy following allegations that part of the funds had been allegedly spent on frivolous expenditure by the immediate past administration.
Ortom was joined at the briefing by his counterparts from Sokoto and Taraba States, Governors Aminu Waziri Tambuwal and Darius Ishyaku respectively, as well as the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma.
On the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) which has already been approved by the National Assembly, the Budget and Planning Minister said the governors of the 36 states of the federation had agreed to adopt it as basis for their annual budget development.
The adoption by governors, he said, followed a briefing to them by his ministry, detailing fiscal strategy direction as well as revenue and expenditure projections by the Federal Government.
Accordingly, he said states would be guided by MTEF assumptions as they were expected to be frugal in expenditure, raise their internally generated revenue profile and block leakages.
Also Speaking, Ishaku disclosed that the Excess Crude Account (ECA) stood at 2.25 billion dollars as at November.
Sokoto State Governor spoke on the briefing to council by the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefele, noting that the country’s foreign reserve had dropped to 29 billion dollars as the fall in oil price had continued to mount pressure on it.
