The House of Representatives yesterday called on the Federal Government for full disclosure of the status of the Federation Account and the economic situation of the country.
The sponsor of the motion, Bimbo Daramola (APC, Ekiti), said he is disturbed by the lack of information relating to the actual amount of monies in the Federation Account said that the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in section 126(1) provides that the federation shallmaintain a special account to be called the “Federation Account” into which shall be paid all revenues collected by the Government of the federation.
Rep. Daramola noted that in section 162(3) that any amount standing to the credit of Federation Account shall be distributed among the Federal and State Governments and the Local Government Councils on each state on such terms and manner as prescribed by the National Assembly.
He further noted that section 162(4) states that any amount standing to the credit of the in the Federation Account shall be distributed among states on such terms and in such manner as maybe prescribed by the National Assembly.
In his argument, Rep Daramola told the Honorable House that the benchmark in the 2013 appropriation was $79 per barrel and to date oil sales has not fallen below $100 per barrel and wondered why in the past three to four months the nation has been regaled with diatribes between the Minister of Finance and State Governors over partial release of the amount due to the states.
Lamenting, Daramola said that “some State Governments are already unable to meet their statutory responsibilities such as payment of salaries, thereby inflicting pains on the people and that despite profuse reassurance from the honorable minister of finance that the economy is growing and the government is meeting all its obligations as at when due.
In his resolution, he mandated the committees on Finance, Appropriation, Loans and Aids to conduct a one day public hearing where the Minister for Finance, Heads of Revenue Agencies, DMO and related organizations to appear and present to Nigerians the full status of the state of account of the country.
