- FG, States, LGs, agencies smile home with revenue raise
BY COBHAM NSA, ABUJA – Despite the devastating effects of coronavirus pandemic on global oil prices and economy, the three tiers of government in Nigeria still have cause to smile home with improved revenue packages from the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) for the month of March 2020.
Rising from its meeting held for the first time through virtual conferencing, FAAC shared a total of N780.926 billion as gross revenue to the Federal, States and Local Governments as well as relevant agencies in the country.
The March distributable revenue is about N205.36 billion more than the N581.566 billion that accrued as the total amount shared in February 2020.
Members of the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) could not converged in Abuja for their usual monthly meeting due to the nationwide lockdown as part of measures to check spread of COVID-19 pandemic.
According to a statement of Accounts by FAAC in Abuja on Wednesday, the gross statutory revenue for the month of March 2020 stood at N597.676 billion. This figure was higher by N131.618 billion than the N466.058 billion shared in February and January 2020.
A statement by Henshaw Ogubike, Director of Information, Press and Public Relations, Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) said the N780.926 billion were accruals from Statutory Revenue, Value Added Tax (VAT), and Exchange Gain.
This is as FAAC indicated that current balance in the Excess Crude Account (ECA) stood at $72.221 million.
The statement further explained that revenue from Value Added Tax (VAT) for March witnessed an increase of N20.716 billion to N120.268 billion as against N99.552 billion recorded in February 2020.
Also, the Committee stated that a total of N62.928 billion was available for distribution from Exchange Gain in the month under review.
By the statement of accounts, it was shown that from the total revenue of N780.926 billion, the Federal Government received N264.330 billion, the State Governments got N181.487 billion, with the 774 Local Government Councils receiving N135.950 billion.
For the Oil Producing States, a total of N38.751 billion went to them as 13 per cent derivation, while the cost of revenue collection by Revenue Agencies and allocation to North East Development Commission (NEDC) came to N160.408 billion.
Further breakdown showed that from the gross statutory revenue of N597.676 billion, the Federal Government got N217.773 billion with the State Governments and Local Government Councils receiving N110.457 billion and N85.158 billion respectively.
The sum of N32.299 billion was given to the relevant States as 13 per cent derivation revenue and N151.989 billion was cost of revenue collection by Revenue Agencies and allocation to North East Development Commission (NEDC).
The Federal Government received N16.777 billion from the Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue of N120.268 billion available in the month of March 2020. The State Governments got N55.925 billion, the Local Government Councils received N39.147 billion, while the cost of collection by Revenue Agencies and allocation to NEDC was N8.419 billion.
From the revenue haul of N62.982 billion available from Exchange Gain, the statement of accounts showed that the Federal Government got N29.780 billion; State Governments received N15.105 billion; Local Government Councils went home with N11.645 billion while the Oil Producing States received N6.452 billion.
Similarly, the Statement indicated that Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT), Companies Income Tax(CIT), Import and Excise Duties, Oil and Gas Royalties and Value Added Tax (VAT) all recorded substantial increases within the month under consideration.
