States & Local Govt Shared Missing N500bn Sure-P Funds Says Okonjo-Iweala

The Minister of Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has said the alleged missing N500bn from the account of the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme had been shared to the states and local governments.

Recall that the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mallam Lamido Sanusi, had alleged that $49.8bn, was not in the federation account. According to the minister, N300bn out of the amount had been remitted to the SURE-P account at the federal level while N500bn was shared to the states and local governments within the period.

But appearing before the Senate ad-hoc committee on SURE-P Tuesday, the minister said the $49.8bn was intact and the total subsidy funds between February 2012 and September 2013 was N816bn.

Okonjo – Iweala and the Senate Committee on SURE – P however disagreed over the formular used to arrive at the N15bn monthly remittances to the fund.

The minister was queried by the committee for remitting a flat rate every month to the SURE – P account when proceeds from petroleum sales are not stable from one month to another.

They also faulted the minister’ s disbursement of a whopping N500bn to states and local governments and attributed the development to the reason why the programme failed to meet the yearnings and aspiration of the masses.