The Senate will, at the plenary on Thursday (today), debate the proposed withdrawal of $1bn from the Excess Crude Account by the Federal Government to fight Boko Haram insurgency.
Raising a point of order at the plenary on Wednesday, Senator Samuel Anyanwu (PDP, Imo-East), sought the permission of the chamber to present a motion on the controversial withdrawal from the ECA.
He said, “I will want to bring up this issue as a formal motion. In the last few days, the television, the media have been awash with the issue of $1bn that was (to be) withdrawn from the ECA. It has generated a lot of controversies in this country and some (people) are raising the issue that the Nigeria Governors’ Forum gave their consent to the withdrawal of the money.
“It is very clear in our constitution. Section 80(1)(2)(3) states that any withdrawal from the Consolidated Revenue Account of the Federation or any other account must have the approval of the National Assembly.”
The lawmakers unanimously granted Anyanwu’s request, while the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, asked the senator to bring the motion on the next legislative day, which is Thursday.
Correspondent gathered that there are strong indications that the Senate might move against the decision by the Federal Government to withdraw $1bn from the ECA
Several members of the upper chamber of the National Assembly who spoke to correspondents in different interviews condemned both the money and the account.
The Senate had on November 7, 2017, resolved that the ECA, which was created by the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2004, was illegal and should be abolished.