….says only 27 states benefit from Paris Club refund so far
After about 10 days delay of its meeting, the Federation Accounts Allocations Committee (FAAC) today met in Abuja and shared the sum of N609.95 billion to the three tiers of government for November.
Giving a breakdown of the distributions after the Committee’s meeting, the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Ahmed Idris, told journalists that the amount represented an increase of about N77.201 billion over the N532.75 billion shared in the preceding month.
Idris disclosed that the gross statutory revenue of N549.532 billion in the month was higher than the N443.045 billion raked in in the month of October by N106.487 billion. Also shared by the tiers of government was VAT collections totaling N77.209 billion.
Clarifying further he said: “There was a decrease in revenue from export sales of $69.49 million due to decrease in crude oil production by 1.75 million barrels. However, the average price of crude oil increased from $48.65 to $52.07 per barrel.”
Despite the higher revenue collected in November, he told journalists that issues of damaged pipelines, sabotage, and a brief force majeure at Bonny Terminal contributed to drop in oil production.
The AGF also disclosed that the sum of $133 million was in the Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT) account while the Excess Crude Account remained unchanged at $2.31 billion.
Reacting to media enquiries on to report that the National Economic Council (NEC) approved $1 billion to fight insurgency from the ECA, Idris explained that there had not been formal directive to the effect given to his office by the government.
“There is no instruction yet from the Presidency. The federation has decided and we have no option than to obey their bidding,” he said.
Speaking on the Paris Club refund so far, the Director, Home Finance, Mrs. Olubunmi Siyanbola, disclosed that only 27 States had so far been refunded, saying that administrative procedure was delaying payment to the other nine states.
In his remarks, the Chairman, Forum Of Finance Commissioners, Mallam Mahmoud Yunusa, expressed the hope that with the November revenue shared to the tiers of government, most states would be able to pay salaries before Christmas to workers.
