3 tiers of govt share N25.3bn less in October following oil production decline

The Federal Government, States and Local Government shared a total of N532.7 billion in October, indicating a decline of N25.3 billion compared to September figures.

The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Mahmoud Isa-Dutse, disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja while briefing journalists on the outcome of the monthly Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC).

Isa-Dutse said the decline was due to the decrease in revenue from export sales of $42.94 million due to a decrease in crude oil production by 1.25 million barrels.

He stated that despite the fact that the average price of crude oil increased from $46.29 per barrel to $48.66 per barrel, it was not enough to make up for the loss in production.

“Some of the issues that impacted negatively on crude oil production were attributed to ageing facilities which resulted to shut-ins and shut-downs of pipelines at various terminals for repairs and maintenance.

“Petroleum Profit Tax increased significantly while Import Duty and Value Added Tax improved only significantly.

“Companies Income Tax and Oil Royalty recorded slight decreases in the month under review,” he said.

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Summarising the details, Isa-Dutse said after deductions as cost of collection by FIRS, Customs and DPR, the federal government received N205.7 billion, representing 52.68 per cent; states and N104.3 billion, representing 26.72 per cent.

The local governments, he said, received N80.4 billion, amounting to 20.60 per cent of the amount distributed.

Isa-Dutse also disclosed that N40.8 billion representing 13 per cent derivation revenue was also shared among the oil producing states.

He said that the country generated N317.2 billion as mineral revenue and N124.4 billion as non-mineral revenue, showing an increase of N41.6 billion from what the country generated as mineral revenue and a decrease of N23.5 billion in non-mineral revenue from what was generated in the month of September.

Meanwhile the Chairman, Commissioners of Finance Forum, Mahmoud Yunusa, had apologised for the lateness in holding the meeting, which was supposed to have held November 23.

He said the meeting was cancelled by the state governors due to discrepancies found in revenue figures presented by some of the revenue generating agencies.

Yunusa confirmed that the NNPC had increased what they had initially presented to FAAC as revenue following the protest from the states.

He said that to avoid such occurrence, the states as a major stakeholder in NNPC, would henceforth keep “an eagle eye on the affairs of the NNPC”.

“Going forward we will be fully involved in what the NNPC does to avoid this kind of errors in future. We will scrutinise their books,” he added.

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