FAAC: FG, States, LGs Got N3.946trn In 6 Months – NEITI

•   Delta, A-Ibom, Rivers, Bayelsa top chart

BY EDMOND ODOK, ABUJA – Despite contentions over the current state of Nigeria’s economy, the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) has distributed about N3.946 trillion to the three tiers of government within the first half of 2018.

The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) said in its quarterly report that the amount disbursed by FAAC to the Federal, State and Local Governments went up by 41.4 per cent over the N2.788 trillion distributed during the corresponding period in 2017

The report released in Abuja on Monday also noted that figure is about 95.4 per cent higher than the N2.019 trillion shared in the first half of year 2016.

According to the report, the breakdown showed that in the period under review, the Federal Government received N1.652 trillion, representing 41.8 per cent of the total amount disbursed.

This is as “The states got N1.375 trillion, representing 34.8 per cent of the total; while N795 billion was disbursed to the Local Government Areas (LGAs), representing 20.1 per cent of the total” figure.

Similarly, the report indicated that Delta state got the highest allocation of N101.19 billion within the six-month period with Akwa Ibom State receiving N100.2 billion; Rivers State got N85.01 billion; and N77.14 billion going to Bayelsa State.

Together, the four Niger Delta states got a total of N364.26 billion in the first half of 2018, even as the report noted that disbursements in the first half of 2018 were almost double the figure recorded within same period in 2016.

Closely following the top ranked four states in the top 10 category are Lagos state with N59.52 billion; Kano State – N39.88 billion; Edo State – N32.88 billion; Kaduna state – N32.86; Ondo State – N30.96 billion; and Borno State – N30.04 billion.

The report however showed that the 10 states combined got a paltry N189.45 billion, representing about six per cent less than the N201.39 billion allocated to Delta and Akwa Ibom states.

States with the least allocations are Osun state with N10.24 billion; Cross River – N17.13 billion; Ekiti – N17.92 billion; Zamfara – N18.64 billion; and Ogun – N18.79 billion.

The report also indicated that Plateau got N20.6 billion; Gombe – N20.64 billion; Kwara – N21.39 billion; Ebonyi – N21.61 billion; and Taraba – N22.49 billion. – With NAN reports