The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) in Abuja shared N886.402 billion to the three tiers of government for the month of February. The Minister of State for Finance, Dr Yerima Ngama disclosed this while briefing newsmen on the outcome of the monthly FAAC meeting on Thursday in the FCT. The sum represents an increase of N311 billion, compared to the N575.46 billion which was shared by Federal, states and the local governments in January.
A breakdown of the distribution indicated that the Federal Government received N209.865 billion (52.68 per cent); States N106.443 billion (26.72 per cent) while the local governments got N82.062 billion (20.60 per cent). Represented by the Accountant General of the Federation, Mr Jonah Otunla, the minister said the gross revenue of N571.676 billion received in February was lower than N651.265 billion received in the previous month.
“This is a result of crude oil revenue valued at $227.20 million and $108.09 million due on March 1 and April 4, 2013 respectively. The total amount will be received in subsequent months. Production was hampered by pipeline vandalism at Bonny, Forcados and Brass Terminal,’’ the minister explained.
Ngama said the N7.61 billion refund by the NNPC was also distributed in addition to N35.549 billion for the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P). Also, a total of N47.484 billion, representing 13 per cent oil derivation, was shared among the oil producing states. The minister put the gross revenue available from the Value Added Tax (VAT) for the month at N62.70 billion compared with N65.291 billion in the preceding month. Ngama said that a total of N121.413 was paid into the Excess Crude Account.
On the Excess Crude Account (ECA), he said the account was credited with N121.4 billion, bringing the current balance to 8.061 billion dollars. The account balance as at last month was 9.22 billion dollars after N187.8 billion was lodged into the account in January. Speaking with reporters, the Chairman of the Finance Commissioners Forum, Mr Timothy Odah, said the meeting had extensive discussions on the drop in revenue collection. Odah, who is the Commissioner for Finance for Ebonyi, said in the course of the discussions, states were urged to intensify efforts to diversify their economy to avoid the over-reliance on oil revenue.
