By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The House of Representatives on Tuesday recommended the immediate scrapping of the Excess Crude Account (ECA) created to store the extra amount made when crude oil is sold above the benchmark.
In its argument yesterday, the green chamber of the National Assembly said the account was illegal and should be abolished with immediate effect.
The recommendation for the scrapping of the ECA was contained in a report submitted on Tuesday by the Committee on Finance led by Mr James Abiodun Faleke.
The report, which was laid for consideration, was on the Revised 2020–2022 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper.
“That the Excess Crude Account has no backing of the law.
“The committee, therefore, recommends that the account be scrapped with immediate effect and comply with sections 80 and 81 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended),” the report proposed.
The House said the account had been run for many years without the backing of the law, stressing that it would be wrong to continue to operate it in defiance of the constitution.
Also, the report increased the crude oil benchmark for the 2020 budget by $3 to $25 per barrel from $28 per barrel. The lower parliament retained the crude oil production at 1.9 million barrels per day.
Also, on Tuesday, the House of Reps approved the request of President Muhammadu Buhari to borrow $22.8 billion from foreign sources.
The external loan is part of the 2016–2018 Federal Government External Borrowing (Rolling) Plan laid before the House on March 5, 2020, before the President’s fresh loan request of $5.5 billion on May 28, 2020.
A breakdown of the $22,798,446,773 loan: World Bank – $2, 854,000,000; African Development Bank (AfDB)– $1,888,950,000; Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) – $110,000,000; Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) – $200,000,000; German Development Bank – $200,000,000; China Eximbank – $17,065, 496,773; and French Development Agency (AFD) – $480,000,000.
Earlier in March 2020, the Senate had approved the same loan, but the lower chamber of the National Assembly suspended its consideration of the request indefinitely before approving it yesterday.
