FG, states, LGs share N652b in July

The Federal Government, states and local governments shared N652 billion in July, the Accountant-General of the Federation, Mr Ahmed Idris, said on Tuesday.
He said this in Abuja, after chairing the monthly meeting of the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC), adding that the figure comprised of both mineral and non-mineral revenue.
He said that the gross statutory revenue of N570.5 billion received for the month of June was more than the N317.5 billion in the previous month by N253 billion.
Idris said the gross revenue available from Value Added Tax (VAT) was N81.6 billion as against N79.9 billion distributed in May, indicating an increase of N1.6 billion.
He also said the Excess Crude Account (ECA) stood at $2.303 billion while the Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT) was 68 million dollars.
He said non-mineral revenue increased by N181.2 billion from N157.5 billion in May to N338.8 billion in June.
Giving the breakdown on what was distributed to the three tiers of government, he said the Federal Government got N286.5 billion, states N178.6 billion and Local Governments got N134.9 billion.
He also said N29.8 billion was shared to oil producing states as their 13 per cent derivation for the month, while cost of collection and Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) refund stood at N22.1 billion.
According to him, there was a decrease in the average price of crude oil from $55.18 per barrel to $50.27 per barrel.
He also said a significant decrease in export volume by 3.20 million barrels resulted in decreased revenue from export sales for the federation by $183.68 million.
Idris said Lagos State has been identified as an oil producing state and that the relevant agencies to quantify the amount of crude produced by the state and what was accruable to the state would get to it.
The Chairman, Commissioners for Finance Forum, Mr Mahmood Yunuusa of Adamawa State, said states were working hard to ensure that they diversify their inflows.
“We are determined to see that in the next one year we reduce our dependence on what comes from the center and whatever comes from the center will be dedicated to projects.’’