FG, states, LGs To share N390bn

The three tiers of government, yesterday, shared N389.936 billion as revenue that accrued to the Federation Account, as well as Value Added Tax, VAT, proceeds earned in the month of September.

The sharing of the revenue was the high point of the monthly Federation Accounts Allocation Committee, FAAC, meeting in Abuja, where the Federal Government expressed worries at the persistent dwindling revenue.

The gross revenue announced by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Mrs. Anastasia Daniel-Nwaobia, stood at N378. 395 billion.

However, net distributable fund came to N 368.925 from both the Federation Account and the VAT, after deducting the Costs of Collections, which were paid to the Nigeria Customs Service and the Federal Inland Revenue Service, at seven percent and four percent, respectively.

The Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, also received four percent as cost of collection.

An analysis of the revenue showed that the Federation Account yielded a net N314.792 billion, while the balance of N54.143 billion came from the VAT and exchange gain of N5. 211 billion.

The breakdown of the receipts indicated that the Federal Government took N159.464 billion; states got N103.835 billion, while the local governments received N78.131 billion.

The nine oil-producing states received an additional N 27.505 billion, representing 13 percent derivation.

The Permanent Secretary blamed the fall in oil revenue on crash in prices and lower outputs owing to shut downs and shut-ins for maintenance at different periods and terminals during the review period.

Mrs. Daniel-Nwaobia said: “If we say we are not worried then we are lying. But the situation is not peculiar to Nigeria.”