The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has asked Delta State Governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa and eight other Governors of the oil-producing states in Nigeria, to “provide and widely publish details of spending of the oil derivation refunds of N625bn recently paid to them by the Federal Government, including details and locations of projects executed with the money.”
In an open letter dated December 10, 2022, and signed by its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, SERAP also asked for locations of projects executed with the refunds.
Nine oil-producing states, according to the presidency, received a total of N625.43 billion 13 percent oil derivation, subsidy and SURE-P refunds from the federation account in the last two years (2021-2022).
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The states that received the refunds dating from 1999 to 2021 are Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, Rivers, Ondo, Imo and Cross River states.
A total of N477.2 billion was released to the nine states as refund of the 13 percent derivation fund on withdrawal from the Excess Crude Account (ECA) without deducting derivation from 2004 to 2019, leaving an outstanding balance of N287.04 billion.
The presidency also revealed that the states got N64.8 billion in addition as refund of the 13 per cent derivation fund on deductions made by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, without payment of derivation to oil-producing states from 1999 to December.
A breakdown of Data obtained from the Federation Account Department, Office of the Accountant General of the Federation by the presidency, shows that Abia State received N4.8 billion with an outstanding sum of N2.8 billion, Akwa-Ibom received N128 billion with an outstanding sum of N77 billion, Bayelsa with N92.2bn, leaving an outstanding of N55 billion.
Cross River got a refund of N1.3 billion with a balance of N792 million, Delta State received N110 billion, leaving a balance of N66.2 billion, Edo State received N11.3billion, with a balance of N6.8billion, Imo State, N5.5 billion, with an outstanding sum of N3.3 billion, Ondo State, N19.4 billion with an outstanding sum of N11.7bn while Rivers State was paid 103.6 billion, with an outstanding balance of N62.3 billion.
The organisation stated that;
It is in the public interest for the nine states to publish the details of spending of the refunds”, adding that Nigerians have the right to know how their states are spending the said refunds, as it is part of their legally enforceable human rights.
According to SERAP, giving details of the spending would enable Nigerians to scrutinise the spending of the refunds, adding that publishing the details of the spending of the N625 billion would also promote transparency and accountability concerning the spending of public funds.
It further noted;
Widely publishing details of the spending of the oil derivation refunds would ensure that persons with public responsibilities are answerable to the people for the performance of their duties in the management of public funds.
We would be grateful if the recommended measures are taken within seven days of the receipt and/or publication of this letter. If we have not heard from you by then, SERAP shall take all appropriate legal actions to compel you and your state to comply with our request in the public interest.
