FAAC distributes N718.1bn to FG, states, LGs

Minister of State for Finance, Dr. Yerima Ngama
| credits: File copy

The Federation Accounts Allocation Committee on Monday distributed the sum of N718.10bn among the three tiers of government.

The allocation, which is for the month of June, represents an increase of N27.60bn over the N620.56bn shared in the month of May.

The Minister of State for Finance, Dr. Yerima Ngama, who briefed journalists at the end of the statutory meeting, said the revenue was distributed under various sub-heads.

They are statutory distribution, N623.76bn; Value Added Tax, N51.17bn; Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme, N35.54bn; and debt repayment by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, N7.617bn.

After deducting the N13.37bn cost of collection due to the Nigerian Customs Service and Federal Inland Revenue Service from the N623.76bn, Ngama said the Federal Government got N294.03bn; states, N149.14bn; and local governments, N114.98bn.

The balance of N52.23bn was shared to the oil producing states based on the 13 per cent derivation principle.

From VAT revenue of N51.17bn, Ngama said after deducting the cost of collection of N2.04bn due to the FIRS, the Federal Government got N7.36bn; the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory would share N24.56bn; while the balance of N17.19bn was allocated to the 774 local government areas.

In addition, the minister said the arrears for the month of May, which he put at N92.43bn, was also allocated to the three tiers of government.

On the revenue side, Ngama put the gross revenue received for the month of June at N863.02bn.

This, he said, was higher than the N590.77bn received in the previous month.

He said, “The increase in revenue was due to an increase in crude oil production due to the completion of pipeline repairs in some terminals.

“Lifting operations were still being  affected by the increase in non-oil revenue during the period  due  to the rush to meet the Companies Income Tax deadline of  June 30, 2013 for companies with December 31, 2012 year end.”

Meanwhile, the Chairman, Commissioners of Finance Forum, Mr. Timothy Odaah, has called on state governments to adopt pragmatic approaches to boost their internally generated revenue.

Odaah, who spoke to journalists shortly after the FAAC meeting, stated that recent happenings in advanced economies were pointers to the fact that Nigeria needed to de-emphasise its dependence on oil revenue.
Source: Punch