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Oil theft: Government records N30bn drop in revenue

By on May 17, 2014

The Federation Accounts Allocation Committee on Thursday said the country recorded N30.20bn drop in gross revenue as it recorded N584.15bn in April from N614.35bn in March.

The Accountant-General of the Federation, Mr. Jonah Otunla, revealed this while addressing journalists shortly after this month’s FAAC meeting held in Abuja.

He attributed the decline in revenue to production shut-in at the Qua Iboe and Yoho terminals as well as the shutdown of the Forcados and Bonny terminals.

Otunla also explained that repair of the Brass Terminal, which was occasioned by oil theft and pipeline leakage, was also a major reason for the drop in gross revenue.

In spite of the revenue drop, he said the sum of N634.72bn was allocated to the three tiers of government for the month of April.

The April allocation, according to him, is N6.65bn lower than the N641.38bn distributed in the preceding month.

The accountant-general said, “The distributable statutory revenue for the month is N533.746bn, which is less than the N534.907bn that was shared for the month of March.

“In addition, the sum of N35.55bn is proposed for distribution under the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme. So, the total revenue distributable for the current month, including Value Added Tax of N65.425bn, is N634.72bn.”

A breakdown of the distribution showed that the Federal Government received N249.06bn, representing 52.68 per cent; the states got N126.327bn, representing 26.72 per cent; while local governments received N97.39bn, or 20.6 per cent of the total amount distributed.

In addition, Otunla stated that N55.2bn was shared among the oil producing states based on the 13 per cent derivation principle.

On Value Added Tax, he said the gross revenue collected in April was N65.425bn as against N63.307bn received in March.

Otunla also said that N50.405bn was transferred to the nation’s Excess Crude Account, bringing the new balance in the account to $3.6bn.

Meanwhile, the Chairman, Finance Commissioners’ Forum, Mr. Timothy Odah, said the committee that was set up to investigate petroleum subsidy had yet to complete its assignment.

Odah said the forum was still determined to ensure that petroleum subsidy is removed by the Federal Government.

 

 

 

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