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Nigeria earned N5.5 trillion revenue in eight months – FAAC

By on October 2, 2012

President Goodluck Jonathan

Nigeria earned N5.5tn from mineral and non-mineral revenue between January and August, a data from the Federation Accounts Allocations Committee, stated on Monday.

The figures obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria, in Abuja showed that the country recorded the highest revenue of N825.39bn in July.

Out of the total amount generated so far in 2012, a total of N1.5tn was recorded to have been lodged into the Excess Crude Account between January and August.

A portion of the revenues above the benchmark oil price are saved, while the remaining revenue is distributed among the federal, state, and local governments, according to a set formula.

NAN reports that records from the FAAC during the months under review, however, contained only information on lodgements into the Excess Crude Account and not withdrawals made from it.

NAN recalls that on September 14, the Accountant-General of the Federation, Mr. Jonah Otunla, had announced that the balance in the ECA was $8.03bn, following the lodgement of N124bn into the account in August.

Similarly, on August 15, 2012, the Minister of State for Finance, Dr. Yerima Ngama, told reporters that $1bn was withdrawn from the account for distribution among the federal, states and local governments “to execute some ongoing projects.”

A breakdown of the country’s revenue in the month of July showed that mineral revenue accounted for N646.47bn, while the non-mineral revenue amounted to N178.92bn.

In other months, FAAC recorded N666.32bn for January, N766.77bn in February, N726.77bn in March and N626.17bn for the month of April.

Also, a total of N586.91bn was credited to the national treasury in May, N763.55bn in June and N564.88bn for the month of August.

Notably, the country recorded its least revenue of N564.88bn in the month of August, compared with figures recorded in the months of May, April and January, respectively.

The Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation computes the figures and also distributes monthly revenue from the Federation Accounts to the three tiers of government.

The office attributed the shortfall in oil revenue to decline in production, poor sales and strikes embarked upon by labour unions in January.

For instance in the month of January, the office reported a shortfall in revenue from N892.7bn recorded in December 2011 to N666.32bn.

The one-week nationwide strike called by the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress because of the removal of fuel subsidy by the Federal Government was partly responsible for the drop in revenue, the office said.

FAAC also recorded that N142.19bn was transferred to the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme between April and August.

NAN recalls that on September 21, 2012, the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, announced that the Federal Government had so far disbursed N30bn for projects under SURE-P, out of N180bn appropriated for Federal Government projects in the programme.

Since April, the FAAC had transferred the sum of N35.54bn to the SURE-P for distribution to the three tiers of government.

SURE-P was initiated early in 2012 following the partial removal of subsidy on petroleum products.

The Federal Government’s share of the subsidy removal money is being reinvested in healthcare, public transportation, vocational training and key infrastructure projects.

Source: NAN