Gist Arena

G overnors from Nigeria’s 36 states have approved the withdrawal of $1 billion from the Excess Crude Account by the federal government to be used in the ongoing fight against Boko Haram insurgents in the North-east. This was revealed by the Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki while briefing State House correspondents after the meeting of the National Economic Council which held inside the council chamber of the Presidential Villa Abuja. The meeting was chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. Mr. Obaseki said the approval was announced during the 83rd NEC meeting by the chairman of Nigeria Governors Forum, NGF, and Governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari. The Governor of Gombe State, who spoke earlier, said the Excess Crude Account had a balance of $2.317 billion as at December 13, 2017.

T he House of Representatives on Tuesday raised questions over a “purported” presidential approval withholding some special Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation accounts from being transferred to the Treasury Single Account. The accounts, with funds worth N50bn, are still being kept by commercial banks in breach of the TSA policy, which provides that all accounts belonging to Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government should be transferred to the TSA. The TSA, a centralised Federal Government revenue account, is kept by the Central Bank of Nigeria. A Nigerian firm, SystemSpecs, provides the Remita electronic platform for running the TSA, saving the Federal Government revenue that could, ordinarily, have been lost. An ad hoc committee of the House chaired by a member of the All Progressives Congress from Kano State, Mr. Abubakar Danburam-Nuhu, found out that the NNPC directed some commercial banks to still keep the accounts outside the TSA. The CBN

A cting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu and the Director General of the DSS, Lawal Daura, are before a Senate panel to discuss the clash between EFCC and DSS officials. Source: Channels TV