Minister says FG, States, LGs share N420bn in September

The three tiers of government shared N420 billion as revenue for September as against N510.3 billion shared in August.

The Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, said this in Abuja on Thursday at the monthly revenue allocation to Federal, States and Local Governments.

She was represented by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Mr Mahmoud Isa-Dutse.

According to her, the revenue allocation to Federal, States and Local Government for September declined by N90.2 billion.

Adeosun attributed the decline to the loss of 45.5 million dollars in Federation export sales, despite the increase in average price of crude oil from 46.06 dollars per barrel in May to 48.4 dollars in June.

“Force Majeure was declared at Bonny Terminal and there was a subsisting Force Majeure at Forcados Terminal.

“Shut-in and Shut-down of pipelines for repairs and maintenance also contributed to the drop in revenue.

“Also, there were decreases in volume of dutiable imports receipts from Joint Venture Cash Call, Foreign Companies Income Tax and Value Added Tax,” she said.

Giving a breakdown of how the N420 billion revenue for September was generated, Adeosun said that N250.9 billion was from the distributable Statutory Revenue of the month.

She added that N6.33 billion was refunded by the NNPC to the Federation, N63.4 billion from the Excess Petroleum Profit Tax account, exchange gain of N41.4 billion and VAT, N64.2 billion.

The minister said after deductions as cost of collection by FIRS, Customs and DPR, the Federal Government received N120.4billion, representing 52.68 per cent; states and N61 billion, representing 26.72 per cent.

The local governments, she said, received N47 billion, amounting to 20.60 per cent of the amount distributed.

She announced that N13.7 billion, representing 13 per cent derivation revenue, was also shared among the oil producing states.

Adeosun said that the country generated N135.4billion as mineral revenue and N144.3 billion as non-mineral revenue.

She said this showed a decrease of N23.3 billion and N12 billion from what the country generated as mineral and non-mineral revenue in the months of August and September.

She said that the balance in the Excess Crude Account remains 2.45 billion dollars.

Meanwhile the Chairman, Commissioners of Finance Forum, Mr John Inegbedion, said the lower revenue generated for the month would put a strain on the finances of states and local government.

“Something needs to be done to end the activities of the Niger-Delta militants because it is really impacting on the economy.

“We want to seek all support from all persons to help in bringing down the activities of these unscrupulous persons,” he said.