Intrigue over FAAC N651.184bn June allocation

By NDUKA CHIEJINA

The Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) has shared a total of ₦651.184 billion as June 2020 Federation Account Revenue to Federal, States and Local Governments Councils and relevant agencies in the country.

However it is unclear where the government got money to augment revenue shared for the month.

In April, 2020 Minister of Finance Budget and National Planning Zainab Ahmed announced the government will approach the Nigeria Sovereign Investments Authority (NSIA) for $150 million to make for the expected shortfall in revenue as a result of coronavirus pandemic.

When contacted, Managing Director of the NSIA Mr. Uche Orji, told The Nation: “We have not received a formal request. The funds are now in cash and ready for disbursement once we get the request we will release the money.

“The way we run the stabilisation fund is that once we get the request, we will release the money to government within seven days. Our own is to get the money ready.”

Attempts to find out from the Ministry of Finance why the government has not accessed the $150 million from NSIA proved abortive as officials failed to respond to enquiries.

Director, Information, Press and Public Relations, Henshaw Ogbuike, who released the communiqué, said the FAAC meeting to share June 2020 was held on Friday.

The communiqué said: “The gross statutory revenue available in June 2020 was ₦524.526 billion; the gross revenue from the Value Added Tax (VAT) was ₦128.826 billion and the revenue from the Exchange Gain was ₦42.832 billion.”

This brought the total revenue for the month to ₦696.184 billion. From this total, the sum of ₦45 billion was saved in the Excess Non-Oil Revenue Account and the balance of N651.184 billion was shared to the three tiers of government and relevant agencies.

The balance in the Excess Crude Account (ECA) as at 16th July, 2020 stands at $72.407 million.

The gross statutory revenue of ₦524.525 billion available in June was higher than the ₦413.953 billion received in the previous month by ₦110.573 billion.

Also, the gross revenue of ₦128.826 billion available from the Value Added Tax (VAT) was higher than the ₦103.873 billion in the previous month by ₦24.953 billion.

The communiqué stated from the total revenue, the Federal Government received ₦266.131 billion, the State Governments received ₦185.774 billion and the Local Government Councils received ₦138.974 billion.

The Oil Producing States received ₦28.496 billion as 13% derivation revenue while ₦76.809 billion was given to revenue /relevant agencies as follows: Cost of collection ₦24.047 billion; Transfer to NEDC ₦3.865 billion; PTF ₦3.897 billion and, Transfer to Excess non -oil ₦45 billion.

The Federal Government received ₦227.584 billion from the gross statutory revenue, the State Governments received ₦115.434 billion and the Local Government Councils received ₦88.995 billion. The sum of ₦24.722 billion was given to the benefiting States as 13% derivation revenue.

The Federal Government received ₦17.971 billion from the Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue, the State Governments received ₦59.904 billion, the Local Government Councils received ₦41.933 billion and the revenue/relevant agencies received ₦5.153 as cost of collection and ₦3.865 was transferred to NEDC , totalling ₦9.018 billion.

The communiqué confirmed the Federal Government received ₦20.576 billion, the State Governments received ₦10.436 billion, the Local Government Councils received ₦8.046 billion and the Oil Producing States received ₦3.774 billion from the Exchange Gain revenue.

The Communiqué noted in June 2020, Import and Excise Duty, Value Added Tax, Companies Income Tax, Oil and Gas Royalty recorded significant increases while Petroleum Profit Tax declined. (The Nation)