BY EDMOND ODOK, ABUJA – With rising concerns over dwindling performance by federally generated revenue, accruals from the Forex Equalization Fund (FEF) came to the rescue as the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) on Thursday distributed a total of N740.880 billion to the three tiers of government as shared revenue for the month of August 2019.
The monthly figures consist of revenue from Value Added Tax (VAT), Exchange Gain, Gross statutory earnings and N20 billion Naira augmentation from the Forex Equalization Fund
According to a communique issued by FAAC at the end of its monthly meeting, chaired by the Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, gross statutory revenue for the month stood at N631.796 billion. The figure indicated a drop of about N42.569 billion from the N674.365 billion accruals in the preceding month of July 2019.
Similarly, the monthly accruals from VAT was N88.082 billion compared to N94.159 billion in the previous month, representing a N6.077 billion shortfall while Exchange Gain brought in N1.002 billion as total revenue for the month
The communique further explained that out of the N720.880 billion total revenue, the Federal Government got N301.804 billion as its share; N188.925 billion went to the 36 States with the 774 Local Government Councils carting home a total of N142.654 billion.
It also indicated that 13 per cent derivation revenue for the Oil Producing States came to N43.513 billion while the Revenue generating agencies got N43.984 billion as cost of revenue collection.
Additionally, the meeting agreed to share N20 billion from Forex Equalization Fund (FEF) to augment the distributable revenue for the month.
Further details of the monthly distribution indicated that from the gross statutory revenue of N631.796 billion, the Federal Government got N288.638 billion; the States received N146.401 billion; the Local Government Councils got N112.869 billion, the Oil Producing States received N43.426 billion as 13 per cent derivation revenue while the Revenue Collecting Agencies smiled home with N40.461 billion as cost of collection.
From the N88.082 billion VAT revenue, the Federal Government share was N12.684 billion, the States got N42.280 billion, the Local Government Councils received N29.596 billion while N3.523 billion went to the Revenue Generating Agencies.
A statement by Deputy Director in the Office of Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF), Henshaw Ogubike, said the month of August 2019, also witnessed substantial increases in revenues from Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT) and Companies Income Tax (CIT) while on the other hand there was significant drop in accrual figures from Royalties, Import and Excise Duties and VAT
The statement however explained that the N20 billion naira from Forex Equalization Fund was added to the N720.880 billion and shared accordingly. This brought the gross distributable income to N740,880
Meanwhile, about $328.122 million was recorded as the balance in the Excess Crude Account (ECA) as at September 19, 2019.
