Prof. Sylvester Monye, a former special adviser to the President
Jonathan on monitoring and evaluation, has explained why the new administration
of President Buhari, met in place an empty treasury.
While speaking during an interview on Channels Television,
Monye said it was wrong for officials of the new administration to claim that
they met an empty treasury.
According to him, the constitution says that the money earned by
the government must be shared based on the revenue sharing formula.
Monye urged the officials of Buhari’s administration to stop
speaking as if they were still in the opposition.
“They are creating bigger problems for themselves because, from
my own position where I stand, it is not true. It is not the issue of meeting
empty treasury. The fundamental issue is, was there supposed to be anything in
the treasury?
“That is the fundamental thing. Before we begin to look at empty
treasury or not, we need to look at the provisions of the constitution. The
constitution says that any money that is earned from oil sales, tax, customs
collection must go into the Federation Account and once it gets in there, it
must be shared according to the revenue sharing formula.
“How can you be talking of empty treasury when there is a court
case saying that that little savings you have must be shared.”
Speaking further, Monye called for the amendment of the
constitution to allow for savings from receipts into the Federation Account.
He stated that under the current provisions there was no
provision for savings, adding that this made it necessary for the treasury
to be empty at the end of every sharing.
Monye would go on to claim that the Jonathan administration left
behind $1.5 billion in the Sovereign Wealth Fund and another $2.09 billion in
the Excess Crude Account.
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