The federal government has accused former finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of spending $2.1billion from the excess crude account without approval.

This was disclosed on Monday 29 June 2015 by the National Economic Council (NEC), which was chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

NEC comprises Nigeria’s 36 state governors and the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.Governor Godwin Emefiele.

“We looked at the numbers for the excess crude account. The last time the former Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, reported to the council, and it is in the minutes, she reported by November 2014 that we had $4.1 billion,” Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole told journalists after the NEC meeting in Abuja.

“Today, the Accountant-General Office reported we have $2.0billion, which means the honorable minister spent $2.1 billion without authority of NEC and that money was not distributed to states, it was not paid to the three tiers of government,” he said.

Indeed, Oshiomhole had earlier accused Okonjo-Iweala of borrowing heavily to satisfy the expenditure of the Goodluck Jonathan administration.