The Federal, States and Local Governments have shared N1.25 trillion from the Federation Account for August and September, the Minister of State for Finance, Dr Yerima Ngama, said in Abuja on Friday.

Mr Ngama briefed journalists at the end of the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FACC) meeting for September.

A breakdown of the amount showed that the federal government received N236.15 billion, state governments N119.78 billion, while local governments got N92.34 billion for September.

For August, the federal government received N248.27 billion, state governments N125.92 billion and local governments N97.08 billion.

The minister said the country received N431.07 billion revenue from mineral resources in September, compared with N424.61 billion in the previous month; representing an increase of N6.4 billion.

Similarly non-mineral revenue in September amounted to N94.53 billion, compared with N123.78 billion in August; representing a decline of N29.2 billion.

According to the Mr Ngama, no fund was proposed as augmentation during the months under review because of moratorium placed by FAAC members. FAAC members reached a decision only to distribute actual and not budgeted revenue.

A breakdown of the distributable figures provided by the minister showed that the statutory allocation distributed to the three tiers of government in September was N507.22 billion, compared with 530.12 billion in August.

On the distribution of revenue from the Value Added Tax (VAT), Mr Ngama said the total revenue for September was N63.9 billion, compared with N69 billion in August.

Refund from NNPC

The total revenue shared by the three tiers of government for the months also included refunds by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and savings from partial subsidy removal.

He gave the figures distributed from the NNPC as N7. 6 billion, while N35. 5 billion came from the Subsidy Re-investment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P).

“You will recall that the NNPC was allowed to refund the states and the local governments in 32 equal instalments of N7.61 billion and they have kept to it,” he said. “This month, they have also paid and this is the 26th instalment and we have six more instalments to go.”

On the amount shared to the oil producing states under the 13 per cent derivation fund, the minister said N53.65 billion was distributed for September and N52.82 billion in August.

According to him, the Excess Crude Account was credited with N18.3 billion in September, compared with N18.2 billion in August.

Issues resolved

FAAC failed to distribute funds to the tiers of government last month due to unresolved disputes over distribution of arrears of revenue shortfall.

Chairman, Forum of Commissioners, FAAC, Timothy Odah, said some of the issues had been resolved. “The problem of FAAC is that of money and I will not say it is over,’’ he said.

He said the state commissioners pledged their support to the federal government to ensure that the problem of NNPC’s remittances to the federation account was properly looked into.

CBN policy

He said the meeting also deliberated on the recent monetary policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that requires states to deposit 50 per cent of public accounts with the bank.

“It is very demoralising and is affecting the states so much,” he said. “The compulsory deposit of 50 per cent has heightened the coupon rates on facilities taken by the public offices or states especially. We have interest rates going up to 20-24 per cent and this is not good for the states.”