IT is not the best of times between the Federal Government and former Minister of Education, Mrs Oby
Ezekwesili, as the duo have engaged each other in war of words over the alleged spending of $67 billion reserves by the Federal Government.
Mrs Ezekwesili, also a former World Bank executive, who spoke at the 42nd convocation ceremony of the University of Nigeria (UNN), Nsukka last week had alleged squandering of significant sum of $45 billion in foreign reserves account and another $22 billion in the excess crude account being direct savings from increased earnings from oil which she said the administration of former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo handed over to the successor government in 2007.
She lamented the level of rot in the education sector and said she realised how severe the country’s education woes were when she headed the Federal Ministry of Education. She, however, stated that her efforts at reforming the sector failed to yield much fruits as the government under which she served soon came to an end.
She said: “The present cycle of boom of the 2010s is however much more vexing than the other four that happened in the 70s, 80s, 90s and 2000s,” adding that, “It is happening back to back with the squandering of the significant sum of $45 billion in foreign reserves account and another $22 billion in the excess crude account, being direct savings from increased earnings from oil that the Obasanjo administration handed over to the successor government in 2007.
“One cannot but ask, what exactly does Nigeria seek to symbolise and convey with this level of brazen misappropriation of public resources? Where did all that money go? Where is the accountability for the use of both these resources plus the additional several billions of dollars realised from oil sale by the two administrations that have governed our nation in the last six years? How were these resources applied or more appropriately, misapplied?”
However, the Federal Government, through the Minister of Information, Mr Labaran Maku, on Sunday, reacted to the allegation and said it found the former minister’s interrogation of the educational system somewhat disingenious and hypocritical.
Maku briefed journalists at the National Press Centre, Abuja, and was flanked by the Chief Economic Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan, Dr Nwanze Okidegbe; Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr Doyin Okupe and the Special Assistant to the President on Performance Evaluation, Professor Sylvester Monye.
Maku disclosed that Mrs Ezekwesili, during her tenure as Minister of Education between 2006-2007, collected a total of N458. 1 billion comprising direct budgetary releases, Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) fund and the Education Trust Fund (ETF) and wondered what she did with the allocations.
“What did she do with all these allocations? What impact did it have on the education sector? One wonders if our educational system would have been better today if these allocations were properly applied,” Maku said.
He insisted that although the Federal Government would not drag the former minister to court following her utterances, her statement at UNN, according to him, “betrayed a surprisingly limited understanding of government’s finances.”
He said at the end of May 2007, the country’s gross reserves stood at $43.13 billion and not the $67 billion as alleged by Ezekwesili.
According to him, the reserves, since Obasanjo left office, had experienced fluctuations, rising from $43.13 billion in May 2007, peaking at $62 billion in September 2008 and falling to a low of $31.7 in September 2011. He gave no figure concerning 2012.
He said, “We are shocked she could go all out, unprovoked, to shoot from all cylinders against the Federal Government.
“On the use of reserves, it is fallacious to say that the nation’s external reserves were dipped into or misapplied by the Federal Government. It is important to note that the Federal Government cannot dip its hands into external reserves.”
Mrs Ezekwesili, while reacting, challenged the Federal Government to a public debate over the issue.
Reacting through her twitter handle (@obiezeks), Ezekwesili said all she did as a citizen was to demand accountability.
“I demand accountability and that is all a citizen asks a government. I will not stop asking for accountability. Let Mr Maku go further.
“As a citizen, all I ask to know is the mathematics in the ECA and the foreign reserves. In 2007, the incoming administration was handed $45 billion in foreign reserves and $22 billion.
“I pray again, father, give us leaders with analytical minds, so ancedotes stop being their response to our questions. I challenge them to a public debate of facts regarding 2007 ECA and foreign reserves and last five and a half years’ oil revenue.”
– Nigerian Tribune