The Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, yesterday in Abuja said that N299.7 billion was shared among the federal, states and local governments as revenue for March 2016.
Adeosun, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Mr Mahmoud Isa-Dutse, announced this while addressing newsmen on the outcome of the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting.
She said there was a N39.0 billion drop in revenue from the N338.8 billion that was shared in February.
She added that the shared amount comprised the month’s statutory revenue of N232.6 billion.
She noted that “there is exchange gain of N2.9 billion which is proposed for distribution.
“Therefore, the total revenue distributable for the month of March, including VAT of N64.2 billion is N299.7 billion.”
Adeosun also said that N6.3 billion that was refunded to the federation account by Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) was also shared.
Giving the breakdown of revenue among the three tiers of government, the finance minister said that the Federal Government received N109.1 billion,
representing 52.68 per cent, while states got N55.3 billion, representing 26.72 per cent.
The local governments, she said, received N42.7 billion, amounting to 20.60 per cent of the amount distributed.
She said N19.75 billion, representing 13 per cent derivation revenue was shared among the oil producing states.
Adeosun also said that during the month under review, the country generated N153.4 billion as mineral revenue and N79.3 billion as non-mineral revenue,
an increase of N23.0 billion and N14.83 billion respectively from what the country generated in the preceding month.
The minister also said that the Excess Crude Account maintained a balance of 2.25 billion dollars, indicating that nothing had been removed or added
since July 2015.
She pointed out that acts of vandalism on oil pipelines among other factors had continued to negatively impact on oil revenue generation.
According to her, there is a significant decline in incomes from Petroleum Profit Tax and Companies Income Tax.
She, however, reiterated government’s stand on diversification of the economy, stressing that it was on course and that all measures were being taken to achieve the goal.
Meanwhile, the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Mr. Ahmed Idris, has given an update on government savings, saying that the Federal Government has realised slightly above N2.7trillion from the Treasury Single Account system.
He spoke during an interactive session with a team of journalists led by Director News, Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN), Alhaji Sani Sulieman.
He further stated that these monies belong to Federal Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies, and meant for their operations, and not for sharing or for any other purposes as being reported in some quarters of the media.
Idris said that the TSA has helped government to have a firm and full control of its resources, blocking leakages, helping it to reduce the cost of borrowing and to monitor spending in the MDAs.
He called on all organizations which have any problems on the operations of the TSA to come forward with their problems, assuring that the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation is committed to resolving whatever challenges they might have in line with best practices.