N4.73bn refurbish fund from excess crude oil account

The Nigeria government has revealed that Nigeria Excess Crude Account (ECA) dropped by 15.9 percent to N60.85 million as at the end of June 2021 from $72.41 million it stood in April.

This was revealed by the budget office in its half-year report published on its website.

According to the report, the drop in Nigeria excess crude account was due to $11.563 million (N4.7 billion) being withdrawn for the refurbishment and remodeling of 107 Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) Vehicles donated by Hasmite Kingdom of Jordan

The report also revealed that the only credit on the account this year was US$0.002 million accrued interest on fund investment (March – May 2021) in the second quarter of 2021.

The Excess Crude Account (ECA) was established in 2004 as a natural resource development fund to serve as a sort of buffer during crises.

At the time it was established, ECA grew from $5.1 billion in 2005 to over $20 billion by 2008, accounting for more than one-third of Nigeria’s external reserves at the time, before dropping in 2009 to a paltry $2billion.

Since ECA has hovered around $2 billion before closing in December of 2018 at $631 million.

The free fall has continued ever since. As of October 2019, ECA stood at $324 million. A few months later, as of March 2, ECA fell to $71.8 million. A figure it has continued to hover around.

The present level shows ECA has dropped by 99.6 percent when compared to the level it was in 2009.