By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has said the federal, 36 states, 774 local governments and other statutory recipients shared the sum of N3.88 trillion in the first six months of the year.
This was contained in the latest edition of the agency’s quarterly report on disbursements by the Federation Accounts and Allocation Committee (FAAC).
A breakdown of the disbursements showed that N1.53 trillion went to the federal government, while the 36 states got N1.29 trillion with the 774 local government areas receiving N771.34 billion.
A look at the amount received by the highest tier of government showed that the N1.53 trillion was 4.3 per cent lower than N1.59 trillion it got in the same period of last year and 7.36 per cent lower than the N1.65 trillion it received in the first half of 2018.
For the states, the N1.29 trillion received was lower for the second straight year. By comparison, it was 2.8 per cent lower than the N1.35 trillion disbursed in the first half of 2019 and 5.6 per cent lower than the N1.37 trillion disbursed in the first half of 2020.
Equally, for local government areas, the 2020 first half disbursements were 2.64 and 3.04 per cent lower than the corresponding disbursements for 2019 and 2018, respectively.
On a quarterly basis, disbursements in the second quarter of the year were 1.09 per cent higher than total disbursements in Q2 2019 and 3.66 per cent lower than the one for Q2 2018.
According to the report, “FAAC disbursements in the second quarter of 2020 stood at N1.934 trillion.
“This was made up of N739.2 billion to the Federal Government, N629.3 billion to state governments, and N375.4 billion to the 774 local government areas.”
According to the report, the total FAAC disbursements in the second quarter of 2020 was slightly lower than the N1.945 trillion disbursed in the first quarter of 2020.
This aligned with the projections made in the previous issue of the NEITI Quarterly Review, which projected lower FAAC disbursement in the second quarter.
The report said the 0.55 per cent decrease in Q2 2020 would have been worse but for a rebound in oil prices in the second quarter as a result of ease of lockdowns by countries across the world.
Another factor that contributed to the reasonable decline in the period was the adjustment of the official exchange rate by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from N307 to a Dollar to N360, which resulted into more Naira earnings.
NEITI noted that FAAC disbursements in the first quarter and second quarter of 2020 were very volatile, with the difference in total distributable amount between months ranging between N58.9 billion and N199.3 billion.
It said, “During this period, the disbursements were very volatile in the first half of 2020, compared to 2018 and 2019.
“Unlike 2018 and 2019 where aggregate disbursements increased and decreased in successive months, in 2020, they fell for two straight months, increased in one month, and then decreased for two straight months.”
It further explained that during the period in 2020, aggregate disbursements fluctuated by large amounts, compared to 2018 and 2019.
“Aggregate disbursements were N716.3 billion in January and this fell to N647.4 billion in February.
“Thereafter, disbursements fell to N581.6 billion in March, before increasing to N780.9 billion in April.
“Disbursements then fell to N606.2 billion in May and to N547.3 billion in June.
“These figures indicate differences of N68.9 billion between January and February, N65.7 billion between February and March, N199.3 billion between March and April, N174.7 billion between April and May, and N58.9 billion between May and June.
“For comparison, the highest inter-month difference in the first half of 2018 was N62.9 billion, while the corresponding figure for 2019 was N63.5 billion.
“Thus, there have been very wide fluctuations in aggregate disbursements so far in 2020,” the report stated.
