BY COBHAM NSA – With controversies surrounding Governor Godwin Obaseki’s allegation that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) printed about N60 billion to augment allocations in February 2021 still trending, another round of bickering took place on Thursday as the Federal Government engaged states and local governments over the revenue for distribution in the month of March
According to inside sources in the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC), the latest contention borders on the Federal Government’s insistence that only N680.687 billion out of the reported over N800 billion accruals should be shared as revenue allocation for the month.
The sources hinted that the Federal Government strongly argued and defended the need to have some savings and the fact that the proposed amount effectively covers the existing gentleman’s agreement among the three tiers of government that not less than N650 billion should be on the table every month for sharing after the FAAC meeting.
It was confirmed the FAAC meeting commenced before noon on Thursday with the technical session, but as expected by revenue stakeholders, the proceedings ran into stormy waters after the Federal Government team pressed hard on states and local governments to tow its part of putting aside some funds as savings.
This position did not go down well with the States and Local government representatives as they jointly demanded that the entire income generated for the month be shared given their current precarious revenue situations arising from the debilitating COVID-19 pandemic.
Obviously rejecting the centre’s request and insisting on a better deal from the purse, FAAC insiders revealed that all parties had to eventually bend backwards and the compromise led to the release of additional N30 billion to augment the N650 billion that is always on the table as the benchmark purse for monthly distribution.
Our sources confirmed that though not the best deal expected by the states and local governments, it took several hours of consultations between the State governors and their Commissioners of Finance with assurances of good faith from the Federal government before the deal was finally sealed by all parties concerned.
It was also gathered that with the late agreement reached by concerned parties, the FAAC technical arm became busy trying to re-adjust the figures in order to officially release the revenue allocations to all three tiers of government and benefiting agencies.
