By Gift Samuel
Abuja- The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has distributed the sum of N467.807 billion to the Federal, State and Local Government Councils as the total revenue distributable for the Month of March.
The Minister of Finance Mrs. Kemi Adeosun who disclosed this to Journalists after the FAAC meeting, noted that the March revenue of N467.807 billion is higher than the previous month distribution of N429.127 billion by N38.68 billion
Adeosun who was represented by the Accountant General of the Federation Ahmed Idris, disclosed that the distributable Statutory Revenue for the month of March was put at N299.930 billion, the gross statutory revenue N331.583 billion and the refund by NNPC to the Federal Government was put at N6.330 billion
She also noted that an exchange gain of N66.967 billion is proposed for distribution, as well as a proposed distribution of N22.259 billion from the Excess PPT Account, adding that the gross revenue available from the Value Added Tax (VAT) was N78.651 billion as against N69.207 billion distributed in the preceeding month resulting in an increase of N9.444 billion.
While breaking down the summary of the distribution to the three tiers of government, she noted that the Federal government received N189.243 billion, State N127.994 billion and Local Government Councils N96.000 billion.
Also, the sum of N35.747 was put as 13 per cent derivation of mineral revenue, Cost of Collection and FIRS Refund stood at N18.824 billion, leaving the grand total at N467.807 billion.
Adeosun noted that despite the increase in the average unit price of crude oil per barrel from $44,74 to $52,86, the revenue from the Federation Export sales dropped by $6.4 million.
According to her; “In our special account, namely; the Excess Crude Account as at April 25, 2017, the balance in that account is $2.497 billion and the Excess PPT as of today has a balance of $129 million”.
In his remark, the Chairman, Honourable Commissioners Forum, Mr Mahmood Yunusa expressed belief that the FAAC allocation will maintain an upward swing in months to come adding that the oil price is looking very promising.
He also noted that the Federal Government is doing all that it could to ensure that peace is achieved and sustained in the oil producing States,stressing that the sale of more crude will generate more revenue for the country and shared across the States for onward development to the people in the States.
