FAAC: Disappointment As FG, States, LGs Share N415.7 billion
Frowns of disappointment took the centre stage on Tuesday as the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) shared the sum of N415.7 billion as revenue accruing to the three tiers of government for the month of April 2017.
A breakdown of the amount showed that after taking away the cost of collections by the revenue generating agencies, the sum of N124.4 billion went to the federal government, while the states and local government councils received N63.1 billion and N48.7 billion respectively.
Similarly, the sum of N22 billion went to the oil producing states based on the 13 per cent derivation principle.
Addressing journalists in Abuja after the monthly FAAC meeting, the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Mr Ahmed Idris said the N415.7 billion, distributed under four sub-heads, is about N52.1 billion less than what the Federal, States and Local Governments earned as distributable income in March 2017.
Representing the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun at the briefing, Mr Idris said, “The distributable revenue for the month is N272.1 billion. The sum of N6.33 billion was refunded by NNPC. There is also a proposed distribution of N20.42 billion from the excess Petroleum Profit Tax.”
According to her, “Also, exchange gain of N38.5 billion is proposed for distribution. Therefore, the total revenue distributable for the current month, including VAT of N81.2 billion is N415.7 billion”, even as he added that government generated N177.7 billion as mineral revenue, indicating a drop of N50 billion from the March revenue of N228.5 billion.
The Minister also said the non-mineral revenue for April stood at N96.4 billion, representing about N6.6 billion decrease compared to the sum of N103 billion that accrued to the country in March.
Speaking on the excess crude account balance, Mrs Adeosun said the account currently boasts of 2.45 billion dollars with great prospects of growing further in the near future.
However, the revenue raise for the month notwithstanding, the Minister the decrease in crude oil export volume remains a worrisome development, noting that in spite of current efforts by government, crude oil production is still witnessing slow down through continued leakages due to oil pipelines’ sabotage.
In his remarks at the occasion, Chairman, Forum of Finance Commissioners in Nigeria, Mr Mahmoud Yunusa reiterated the States’ commitment to efforts at growing their Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) in line with Federal Government’s recovery and growth plan.
Yunusa however said the States were bothered by the drop in the monthly revenue allocation because most of them would find it difficult to meet their financial obligations, especially in terms of adequate funds to pay their workers’ salaries.