The ugly fiscal development, which has been recurring since the second half of this year due to paucity of funds, resurfaced on Friday, when the Federation Allocation Accounts Committee (FAAC) could not hold its meeting till late into the night.
This was even as the committee allocated N675.65billion to the three tiers of government.
The allocation, which was for the month of November, was N107.23billion higher than the N568.4billion shared in October.
It was learnt that the recent revelation by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor about the unremitted $49billion had raised fears that this month’s allocation meeting would not hold as planned.
There was, however, a mild drama before the meeting was held, due to fears that enough money was not remitted by the Nigerian National Petroluem Corporation (NNPC) to the federation account.
The commissioners of finance from the 36 states had besieged the headquarters of the Ministry of Finance as early as 8a.m. on Thursday, to meet with the Minister of State for Finance, Dr Yerima Ngama, over the position of the federation account.
The uncertainty compelled the commissioners, who met briefly before proceeding to seek audience with Ngama, who is the chairman of the committee.
It was reliably gathered that the commissioners’ efforts were futile, as they could not see the minister, even after waiting for about three hours in his office.
When they emerged from the minister’s office, they did not speak to the media, opting, however, to continue to explore avenues for dialogue with the relevant authorities to resolve all pending issues relating to the revenue shortfall.
Despite their reluctance to speak, the commissioners’ anger and frustration were obvious on their faces.
The meeting was eventually convened and the report for this month’s sharing was considered and approved.
In a communique issued and signed by the Accountant General of the Federation, Mr Jonah Otunla, after the meeting, the committee said N632.48billion was distributed under two main sub heads.
They are statutory allocation of N540.75billion and Value Added Tax of N91.73billion.
For the statutory allocation, it said that after deducting cost of collections due to the Nigerian Custom Service (N2.96billion) and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (N2.58billion), the balance of N535.20billion was shared based on the allocation formula.
Of this amount, the Federal Government received N252.23billion representing 52.68 per cent; states, N127.93billion or 26.72 per cent while the 774 local governments got N98.63billion or 20.6 per cent.
The balance of N56.39billion was allocated to oil producing states based on the 13 per cent principle of derivation.
For the VAT allocation, the FG, after deducting cost of collection, which was put at N3.66billion, received N13.2billion or 15 per cent, states got N44.03billion or 50 per cent while local governments were allocated N30.82billion or 35 per cent.
The sum of N35.54billion was shared under the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) while N7.617billion was for the payment of the NNPC debt to the federation account
The communique stated that N56.998billion was transferred to the Excess Crude, Petroluem Profit Tax and Royalty Account.
On revenue performance, it said “the gross revenue of N597.75billion received for the month (November) was higher than the N539.55billion received in the previous month by N58.199billion.”
Addressing journalists shortly after the meeting, Ngama said the issue of internally generated revenue (IGR) for the states was discussed, adding that strategies have been agreed to boost states’ IGR.
He said: “We have discussed so many issues and we have decided to work towards increasing our IGR at the states level.
“The states have to sit up in generating more revenue. We have noted the states that are doing well and the ones not doing well.
“We have decided to discuss the strategies so that those doing well will help those that are not doing well.”
On why the commissioners besieged the ministry in the early hours of Thursday, he said: “We are supposed to have the FAAC tomorrow and not today but we decided to do it today because of Christmas and we did this to make sure people get their salaries before Christmas.”
Ngama, however, did not respond to questions on the unremitted $49bn by the NNPC.
It would be recalled that the September 13 meeting had ended in a deadlock over the inability of the Federal Government to provide the N140 billion arrears as agreed in the previous meeting to make up for outstanding distributions to the tiers of government.
Following the disagreement between the federal and state governments at the September meeting, it was agreed by the commissioners that since the issues in contention were beyond their powers, they would be taken to their governors who could discuss them with the President.
The Chairman of the Forum of Commissioners, Mr. Timothy Odaah, then confirmed the development while addressing journalists shortly after the impasse.
He spoke on the aborted meeting and failure of the Chairman of the Committee to justify the commissioners’ summon to the meeting, even when the conditions agreed upon at the August meeting were not met.
As the crisis over inadequate funds for distribution to the tiers of government lingers, there are indications that workers’ hopes to collect their salaries before Christmas break might be dashed.
Source: Daily Independent
