Federal allocation account now N8.5tr, says NEITI

The Federation Allocation Account Committee (FAAC) has disbursed N8.5 trillion to the three tiers of government and others, the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has disclosed adding it is the first time since 2014, that disbursements would exceed N2 trillion in three consecutive quarters. According to NEITI, the total of N8.52 trillion shared among the three tiers of government in 2018 represented 32.8 percent increase when compared to N6.418 trillion disbursed in 2017 and 67.1percent higher than N5.1 trillion shared in 2016.

A further breakdown of the FAAC disbursements showed that the federal government received N3.483 trillion in 2018 representing 41percent while the 36 States received the sum of N2.85 trillion; representing 33.4percent and the 774 local governments got N1.667 trillion, representing 19.6percent. The Director of Communications and Advocacy, Dr. Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, said these pieces of information and data were contained in the latest edition of NEITI Quarterly Review which analysed disbursements from FAAC in 2018 and made revenue projections for 2019.

On the states’ share of the FAAC disbursements, the review disclosed that five states received higher than N100 billion each in 2018. The States were Lagos (N119 billion), Bayelsa (N153.1 billion), Rivers (N172.6 billion), Akwa Ibom (N202.4 billion), Delta (N213.6 billion). The NEITI publication further disclosed that twenty-three states received less than N60 billion each as total FAAC receipts in 2018. A break down shows that Cross River, Ekiti and Ogun states received N37 billion, N39.3 billion and N39.6 billion respectively. Eight states namely: Zamfara, Gombe, Plateau, Kwara, Ebonyi, Nasarawa, Taraba, and Adamawa, received between N40 billion and N49.9 billion.

The NEITI publication observed that government revenues had continued to be on the increase since 2017. “The rebound in federation revenue continued as a result of increases in both oil and non-oil revenue”, the review stated. A quarterly breakdown of disbursements in 2018 showed a steady increase in the amount disbursed throughout the year. For instance, in the first quarter of the year, FAAC shared N1.938 trillion, while N2.008 trillion was disbursed in the second quarter. Disbursements in the third and fourth quarters were N2.278 trillion and N2.299 trillion respectively.