Uche Usim, Abuja
The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), on Wednesday disclosed that the three tiers of government shared N701.022 billion as statutory allocation for May. The figure was an improvement over N626.8 billion shared in April.
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance, Dr Mahmoud Isa Dutse, made the disclosure at a press briefing in Abuja after the FAAC meeting.
According to him, the Federal Government got N289.045 billion, States got N181.963 billion, while the Local Governments received NN137.327 billion. The 13 per cent mineral revenue for oil producing states stood at N49.756, while the cost of revenue collection and Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) refund was N42.932 billion.
Isa Dutse said the Excess Crude Account balance now stands at $1.911 billion after N24.5 billion savings was added to it.
“Our Petroleum Profit Tax is N0.133 billion. The gross statutory revenue of N613.057 billion received for the month was higher than the N480.599 billion received in the previous month by N132.458 billion.
“Crude oil export sales volume increased by 64 per cent when compared with the 7.72 million barrels from the previous month, resulting in increased revenue from federation crude oil export sales by $226.90 million. The average crude oil price increased from $65.72 billion to $66.78 per barrel.
“An additional N11.269 billion was received from NNPC after April FAAC and was distributed accordingly. We are having discussion with the NNPC to reconcile figures and this will be resolved soon”, he explained.
In his remarks, Chairman, Commissioners of Finance Forum, Mahmoud Yunusa, said though the states were happy that the shared revenue was higher than the previous month, they were anxious to see the monthly allocation hit the N1 trillion target. He also said states were pushing for a review of the revenue sharing formula to make it equitable and justifiable. “We’ve passed the N600 billion mark but our target is N1 trillion is yet to be attained, and we’re working hard on boosting non oil revenue.
“Revenue sharing formula is being looked in to make it justifiable and equitable. States and local governments should have more revenues to enable the grassroots feel the impact of government.
We know some other areas need a boost, but that doesn’t mean we should not push for a review of revenue sharing formula”, Yunusa stated.