Fed Govt, states share N741.84b

Federal, states and local governments yesterday shared N741.84 billion. The revenue generated in August rose by N27.04 billion;  N714.84 was shared in July.

The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance, Mahmoud Isa-Dutse, told reporters after the monthly Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting in Abuja that the increase in crude oil exports sales volume from 37.4 million barrels in July to 45.7 million barrels in August caused the rise.

Isa-Dutse said Value Added Tax, import duty, Petroleum Profit Tax increased in the month of August, while Companies Income Tax and oil royalty decreased.

Giving a breakdown of the revenue generated, the Permanent Secretary said N451.29 billion was generated as mineral revenue, while N175.84 billion came as non-mineral revenue.

The minister said the Federal Government received N274.88 billion, states N139.42 billion and local government N107.49 billion.

He said N53.03 billion was shared among the oil producing states, representing 13 per cent of the oil revenue generated in August.

Isa-Dutse said because the revenue for the month surpassed their expectation, an equivalent of N40 billion was transferred into the Excess Crude Account (ECA), adding that the balance in the ECA account was 2.46 billion dollars.

On the claim that the Federal Government had recalled the second tranche of the Paris Club Refund from Delta, Imo, Benue, Rivers and Osun state, he said that the issue was not raised by the committee members.