| The Excess Crude Account (ECA), which was set up by former President Olusegun Obasanjo under the inspiration of Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in 2004, was the saving grace. Nigeria would have lapsed into a catastrophic economic downturn. Yet, when Obasanjo set up ECA, governors kicked against it, describing it as unconstitutional. All money must be shared, they said.
If Obasanjo had caved in, there would have been nothing to fall back on in 2009 when the crunch set in. We still make use of it till today. So much for constitionalism. ECA is, of course, not the same thing as SWF. ECA simply saves the difference between the budgeted and the actual prices of crude oil. It is a stabilisation fund, summoned when it is needed, especially by the governors who continue to wave the constitution in our face anything they crave raw cash. SWF, on the other hand, is primarily an investment...............................................Full Article: Source
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