by Lekan Olanrewaju
The federal government has been accused of illegally withdrawing a total of N114 billion over a period of eight months from the petroleum stabilisation fund. The House of Representatives yesterday ordered an investigation into allegations that there had been unauthorised withdrawals from the fund.
A motion titled “Indiscriminate Withdrawals from the Stabilisation Account by the Federal Government” had been filed by Senator Haruna Fatahi and the House adopted it without debate, mandating the Joint Committees on Appropriation and Finance to carry out an investigation and submit a report within four weeks, with details pertaining to how the withdrawals were carried out and how the funds were spent.
According to Fatahi, “The stabilisation account is meant to be used to fund budget deficit when the oil price is below the benchmark,” he noted. “Being a buffer against oil shock, spending from the account should be guided by caution and great circumstance in order to maintain a sound fiscal policy.”
This is a battle worth having.
