Excess Crude Accounts Hit $9.6bn

The Federation Accounts Allocation Committee
(FAAC) on Wednesday lodged N161.59 billion to the Excess Crude Account (ECA),
bringing the new balance to $9.66 billion.

The Accountant-General of the Federation, Mr
Jonah Otunla made this known to reporters at the end of the technical
sub-meeting of the FAAC for the month of November.

“I think we have fared very well in the
Excess Crude Account, we targeted $10 billion at the end of the year and I am
happy to tell you that we have 9.66 billion dollars in the account.

“On percentage basis, that is about 97 per
cent of our aspiration for the year,” he said.

The Accountant-General also commented on the
recent demand by the 36 state governors for the withdrawal of one billion
dollars from the oil savings account.

He said that the Federal and State
Governments would be guided by the “principle of consensus” to resolve the
matter.

“I am sure that when they table this request
before Mr President, as usual a consensus will be reached,” he said.

Earlier, Otunla had told reporters that the
country’s mineral and non-mineral dropped to N569.46 billion in November compared
with N640.76 billion realised the previous month.

A breakdown of the figures showed that a
total sum of N483.2 billion was generated as revenue from mineral resources,
while N86.2 billion was derived from the non-mineral sector.

He attributed the drop to several disruptions in crude oil production and lifting operation in the Niger Delta, noting that during the period a Force Majeure was declared by Exxon Mobil.

Otunla said that leakage and fire outbreaks
at Trans Niger, crude oil theft and maintenance work at oil terminals at Qua
Iboe, Brass and Forcadoes also affected crude oil production.

Meanwhile, a total of N572.89 billion was
distributed among the three tiers of government from the federation account for
the month of November.

“The total distributable revenue for the
month is N407.86 for statutory revenue; Value Added Tax (VAT) is N62.72
billion.