Govt. revenue drops by N104billion, as N369.9 billion allocation is shared in November

On a day the Federal Government rolled out a N6.08 trillion for 2016 fiscal year, statutory allocation to the three tiers of government for November 2015 dropped by over N103.95billion.

At the end of the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee, FAAC meeting in Abuja on Tuesday, the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, said the month’s total revenue available for distribution was about N369.88billion, from N473.83billion distributed in October.

Mrs. Adeosun attributed the drop in the allocation to the decline in oil revenue as a result of the shutdown and shut-ins in crude oil production at various terminals during the period.

Mrs. Adeosun said the N369.88billion revenue came from four major sources, namely statutory, N297.45billion; Value Added Tax, N61.18billion; exchange gain, N4.92billion, and Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC refund on the debt owed the Federation Account, N6.33billion.

The minister said after the Federal Government deducted the cost of collection by both the Nigerian Customs Service, and the Federal Inland Revenue Service, statutory allocation revenue came to about N297.45billion.

But, a review of the distribution of the statutory allocation for the month showed that the Federal Government got N139.5billion; the 36 states, N70.76billion; and local governments, N54.55billion.

The oil producing states of the Niger Delta region received about N25.6billion allocation based on the 13 per cent derivation principle.

For VAT revenue, the minister said after deducting the cost of collection by the Customs and FIRS, the Federal Government took N8.8billion; states, N29.36billion, and local governments, N20.55billion.

The minister explained that although oil revenue was currently down, non-oil revenue was beginning to fill the gap for the overall revenue shortfall.

“The gross statutory revenue of N297.45billion received in the month was lower than the N400.3billion received in the previous month by N103.86billion.

“Ongoing maintenance and the shutdown and shut-ins of production for repairs at different terminals during the month continued to impact crude oil and gas revenue negatively.

“Non-oil is beginning to play its part and that is a very positive sign, and I think that is something we should work together with by making sure that people paid their taxes and improve revenue collection,” the minister said.

Apart from the repairs and maintenance of oil and gas facilities, the Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, said in the communique issued at end of the meeting that there was also a revenue loss of $19.43million.

The loss was attributed to the reduction in earnings from crude oil exports.

Although crude oil price increased from $46.96 in September to $49.58 per barrel in October, it dropped significantly to about $32.18 per barrel on Monday.

The communique added that non-oil revenue also decreased by N114.2billion in November, compared to the earning in October.

On workers receiving their salaries before Christmas following the late approval of the November allocation, Mrs. Adeosun said salaries were already being paid, as most workers were already receiving pay alerts.

“We are very conscious of the need that people are paid in time for the festive season,” she said.

On the Excess Crude Account, the minister said the amount remained unchanged from the balance in November at $2.58billion as of December 22.

The meeting was attended by all the Commissioners of Finance and Account-Generals from the 36 states of the federation.

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