FG, states, councils share N580.4bn revenue

The federal Ministry of Finance, on Friday, announced that federal, states and local governments shared N580.4billion revenue for December, 2014.
The announcement was made by the Minister of State for Finance, Mr Bashir Yuguda, after the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting in Abuja.
He said the amount comprised statutory revenue of N474.4billion, and N6.3billion refunded by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
Other components of the money, according to him, are Value Added Tax (VAT) of N73.5billion, and an additional N15.6 billion from the Excess Crude Account released to augment shortfall in revenue generated during the period.
Yuguda said the Federal Government received N220.5 billion representing 52.68 per cent, states, N111.8 billion, representing 26.72 per cent.
The local governments, he added, received N86.2 billion, representing 20.60 per cent of the amount distributed.
He also disclosed that N47.2 billion, representing 13 per cent Derivation Revenue was shared among the oil producing states.
On VAT, he said the gross revenue collected for the month increased by N12.8billion, rising from N60.6billion recorded in the preceding month to N73.4billion.
Yuguda said N381.5billion was generated as revenue from solid minerals in December, as against the N383.1billion generated in the preceding month.
According to him, this shows a decrease of 1.5 billion between the two months.
He said the non-mineral revenue for December was N107.7 billion, which when compared to the N115.1 billion generated in November, showed a decrease of N7.3 billion.
Yuguda decried the low revenue generated for the month.
“A 12 per cent drop in crude oil from 87.8 million dollars in October to 77.5 million dollars in November led to 62.8 million dollar loss in revenue.
“Also in volume, 52 per cent loss was recorded coupled with a 31 per cent drop in revenue generated by LPG and NGL. All contributed negatively to the federation’s equity.
“The persistence of the force majeure declared by SHELL since June, 2014 and the shut in of trucks and pipelines at various terminals, also impacted negatively on the revenue performance.
“Also, non-oil revenue dipped due partly to the fact that the timeline for the payment of taxes by many companies is yet to fall due’’, he said.
Yuguda said the new balance in the nation’s Excess Crude Account was $2.49 billion.
He added that the N35.5billion being distributed monthly under the SURE-P was no more due to the fall in oil prices.
The Chairman, Finance Commissioners Forum, Mr Timothy Odah, expressed concern over the dwindling federation revenue.