Former Aid to GEJ, Prof. Sylvester Monye explains why the Nation's Treasury is Empty

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.