Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja
The balance in Nigeria’s Excess Crude Account (ECA) rose to $472,513.64 Wednesday as the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) shared a total of N736.782 billion October revenue to the federal, state and local governments.
The ECA accruals had plummeted from $35.7 million in June 2022 to a mere $376,655.09 as of July 25, 2022.
Following THISDAY’s report, the federal government was compelled to explain that the depletion was a result of an advance payment for the purchase of patrol vehicles for the Nigerian Navy.
In its Twitter handle, @NigeriaGov, the federal government stated: “The $35 million disbursement from the Excess Crude Account is from June 2022 and is an advance payment for the purchase of brand new Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs) for the #NigerianNavy, as part of efforts to consolidate on maritime security gains recorded in the Gulf of Guinea.”
However, in a communique issued after its November meeting where October disbursements were made to the three tiers of government and other stakeholders, FAAC revealed that the balance in the ECA was $472,513.64 as of November 23, 2022.
Citing the communique, the Director, Information/Press, Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Phil Abiamuwe-Mowete, stated that from the N736.782 billion October revenue, including Gross Statutory Revenue, Value Added Tax (VAT), Exchange Gain and Augmentation from non-oil revenue, the federal government received N293.955 billion, while the states received N239.512 billion.
The local government councils got N177.086 billion, while the oil producing states received N26.228 billion as 13 per cent mineral revenue.
The communiqué explained that the gross revenue available from VAT for October was N213.283 billion.
The federal government got N31.992 billion, the states received N106.642 billion, and local government councils got N74.649 billion.
However, the gross statutory revenue of N417.724 billion distributed was lower than the sum received in the previous month, from which the federal government was allocated the sum of N206.576 billion and the states got N104.778 billion.
Local government councils got N80.779 billion and N25.591 billion was for 13 per cent oil derivation.
The communique stated that N70 billion ‘Augmentation’ was distributed to the three tiers of government, with the federal government receiving N36.876 billion; states, N18.704 billion, and local government councils got N14.420 billion.
The sum of N30 billion non-oil Augmentation was distributed, with the federal government, states and local governments receiving N15.804 billion, N8.016 billion, and N6.180 billion respectively.
The sum of N5.775 billion was also derived as Exchange Gain, and was shared among the three tiers of government.
Oil and Gas Royalties, Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT) and Import Duty recorded considerable decreases, while Value Added Tax (VAT), and Companies Income Tax (CIT) increased significantly, while Excise Duty increased marginally, the communique said.
