Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has said that the $1 billion from the Excess Crude Account allocated for the war against insurgency will also have other uses.
“It was on account of the security summit that the governors at the Governors’ Forum subsequently decided that they would vote a certain sum of money, which has become somewhat controversial, the $1 billion, to assist the security architecture of the country.
“It was to assist all of the issues in the states, including policing in the states, community policing, all of the different security challenges that we have,” Osinbajo said at the ongoing retreat of secretaries to the government at state and federal levels in Abuja.
Background: Governors of the 36 states approved the withdrawal of $1 billion from the Excess Crude Account for the ongoing fight against Boko Haram insurgents in the North-east.
The planned expenditure was made public by the chairman of Governors Forum, Abdulaziz Yari who said all the state governors had agreed to release the money to the Federal Government.
Yari said although President Buhari and several administration officials, including military chiefs, had proclaimed victory in the eight-year-long battle against insurgency, a substantial amount of budget was still required to tackle pockets of terrorists around the northeast.
Reactions: The Governor of Ekiti, Ayo Fayose swiftly opposed any withdrawal from Excess Crude Account to fight Boko Haram.
He said it was withdrawn to aid President Buhari’s re-election.
Fayose said the ECA had already been overdrawn with barely $2 billion left in it.
He also argued that other states across the country require attention for economic situations that are nearly as severe as those afflicting the people of North East.
While the opposition party the ruling party said all governors, including 11 from PDP, approved the fund.
What we think: Just like most other decisions and policies of this administration, we see yet another ‘clarification’ attempt.
Why does this process come after the said policy or decision has come under intense criticism?
It really does not speak well of the government to always lay out plans proper orientation and hope Nigerians will get it the idea later – it is just assumption, it does not work.
Omoleye Omoruyi… an apprentice web/game developer, novelist, sensitive to happenings in the world. Meet him @Lord_rickie on Twitter/Instagram
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