Nigerian FG, states hit by N25b revenue shortfall

The Nigerians States, Federal and Local Government in October shared N532.7 billion which shows a decline of N25.3 billion when compared to what they shared in September.

The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Mahmoud Isa-Dutse said this on Thursday in Abuja while briefing newsmen on the outcome of the monthly Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC).

Isa-Dutse attributed the decline to the decrease in revenue from export sales of 42.94 million dollars due to a decrease in crude oil production by 1.25 million barrels.

He said that even though, the average price of crude oil increase from 46.29 dollars per barrel to 48.66 dollars per barrel, it was not enough to make up for the loss in production.

“Some of the issues that impacted negatively on crude oil production were attributed to ageing facilities which resulted to shut-ins and shut-downs of pipelines at various terminals for repairs and maintenance.

“Petroleum Profit Tax increased significantly while Import Duty and Value Added Tax improved only significantly.

“Companies Income Tax and Oil Royalty recorded slight decreases in the month under review,” he said.

In summary, Isa-Dutse said after deductions as cost of collection by FIRS, Customs and DPR, the Federal Government received N205.7 billion, representing 52.68 per cent; states and N104.3 billion, representing 26.72 per cent.

The local governments, he said, received N80.4 billion, amounting to 20.60 per cent of the amount distributed.

Isa-Dutse announced that N40.8 billion representing 13 per cent derivation revenue was also shared among the oil-producing states.

He said that the country generated N317.2 billion as mineral revenue and N124.4 billion as non-mineral revenue.

He said this showed an increase of N41.6 billion from what the country generated as mineral revenue and a decrease of N23.5 billion in non-mineral revenue from what was generated in the month of September.

Meanwhile, the Chairman, Commissioners of Finance Forum, Mahmoud Yunusa, has apologised for the lateness in holding the meeting, which was supposed to have taken place on Nov. 23.

He said the meeting was cancelled by the state governors due to discrepancies found in revenue figures presented by some of the revenue generating agencies.

Yunusa confirmed that the NNPC had increased what they had initially presented to FAAC as what they had generated after the states showed their displeasure.

He said that to avoid such occurrence, the states as a major stakeholder in NNPC, would henceforth keep “an eagle eye on the affairs of the NNPC”.

“Going forward we will be fully involved in what the NNPC does to avoid this kind of errors in future. We will scrutinise their books,” he said.