Nigeria Content Online

Nigeria’s Excess
crude account earned the first accrual since the beginning of the year,
with the transfer of about N108.2billion by the Federation Accounts
Allocation Committee (FAAC).

The account was
depleted from over $8.4billion late last year to less than $3.2billion
in February, following withdrawals to augment the budget of the various
tiers of government.

The committee made
up of representatives of the 36 states of the federation and the
Federal Capital Territory as well as government revenue agencies
including the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission,
Federal Inland Revenue Service, Central Bank of Nigeria, and Nigeria
Customs Service, said transferred were made into the Petroleum Profit
Tax Accounts.

NEXT gathered on
Friday that the Committee shared a total of N284.592 billion among the
three tiers of government from revenues realised in the Federation
Account for the month of March 2010.

Revenue increase

Minister of State
for Finance and FAAC Chairman, Remi Babalola, said at the end of the
committee’s meeting in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, that the
distributed revenue was an increase of N11.352 billion or 4.16 percent
when compared to the N273.239 billion shared in the preceding month.

“The distributable
Statutory revenue for the month is N235.493 billion (based on exchange
rate of N125 to the dollar), shows an increase of N6.834 billion, or
2.99 percent compared to that of February 2010.

“The increase was
attributable to increase in the volume of import as well as higher
prices of crude in the international market within the period. The
total revenue distributable for the month (including value Added Tax)
is N284.592 billion but excludes augmentation and exchange difference
which were not distributed as 2010 budget is yet to be approved,” Mr.
Babalola said

According to the
Minister, the country earned a total of N436.953 billion during the
month of March, made up of mineral and non-mineral revenue of N385.809
billion and Value Added Tax (VAT) of N51.144 billion.

This, he said,
represents an increase of N48.856 billion when compared to the mineral
and non-mineral revenue of N336.953 billion in February 2010, and also
a rise of N4.707 billion over the VAT of N46.437 billion in February.

Of the total
revenue collected into the Federation Account, the minister disclosed
that N108.226 billion was transferred to the Excess Crude, Petroleum
Profit tax (PPT) and Royalties Accounts, representing an increase of
N45.591 billion when compared to the N62.635 billion transferred in
February.

Breakdown of allocation

A breakdown of the
distribution of the Statutory Allocation, according to the Accountant
General of the Federation (AGF), Ibrahim Dankwambo, shows that the
Federal Government received the lion’s share of N112.427 billion (about
52.68 percent), as against the N108.756 billion received in the
preceding month.

The 36 States
received N57.025 billion (26.72 percent) of the statutory allocation,
an increase of N1.862 billion when compared to the N55.163 billion paid
in February 2010, while the Local Governments’ statutory allocation
amounted to N43.964 billion (20.60 percent) as against the N42.528
billion received in the preceding month.

The 13 percent
derivation for oil producing states accounted for the balance of the
statutory allocation of N22.077 billion, which was distributed among
the nine oil producing states.

Mr. Dankwambo also
explained that the states got the largest disbursement from the five
per cent VAT of N24.549 billion (50 percent), an increase of N2.259
billion over the amount shared in February.

The Federal
Government’s share of the VAT allocation was N7.365 billion (15
percent) while the Local Governments got N17.185 billion (35 percent).