FG, States, LGs Share N701b from Federation Account

By Dipo Olowookere

The sum of N701 billion was shared in April 2018 by the Federal, State and Local Governments from the federation account.

Addressing newsmen, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Mr Mahmoud Isa-Dutse, disclosed that from the amount generated, N276.53 billion was allocated to Federal Government, N140.2 billion to states and N108.1 billion given to the 774 local governments in the country.

Speaking on how the revenue was generated, the senior civil servant said during the month, mineral revenue increased by N50.7 billion to N411.2 billion in April from N360.51 billion in March.

Mr Isa-Dutse, who was briefing reporters after the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting, further said non-mineral revenue also increased by N81.25 billion, from N120 billion in March to N201.3 billion in April.

According to him, Value Added Tax (VAT) collected increased from N80.35 billion in March to N83.4 billion in April, while the gross statutory revenue of N613 billion received for the month was higher than the N480.59 billion received in previous month by N132.45 billion.

He said during the month under review, “Crude oil sales volume increased by 64 percent, compared with 7.72 million barrels from the previous month, resulting in increased revenue from the Federation Crude Oil Export Sales by $226.90 million.”

“Also, average crude oil price increased from 65.7 dollars to 66.78 dollars per barrel.

“Performance for the month in review would have been better but for a few production shut-ins and shut-downs at various terminals for repairs and maintenance,” he added.

Mr Isa-Dutse said looking at the significant increase in revenues, the federal, states and local government decided to save some of the month’s revenue for rainy day.

To this end, the permanent secretary said, N24.5 billion would be converted and added into the dollars denominated Excess Crude Account.

He added that “based on increased revenue for the month and after due consultation, it has been decided that we will take out N24.5 billion and credit it into the Excess Crude Account.

“This brings the Excess Crude Oil Account balance to 1.11 billion dollars and the Excess Petroleum Profit Tax Account is 0.133 billion dollars,” he said.