Nigeria's dwindling revenue profi le worsened further last Thursday with the savings in the Excess Crude Account (ECA) dropping to an all-time level of $5.1 billion.
The decrease in the ECA was due to the withdrawal by the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee of N115 billion from it to augment the revenues distributed to the tiers of government in the month of July this year.
For the month under review, the total revenue distributed for the month, including Value Added Tax (VAT) was N715.845 billion.
From this, the net statutory revenue available for distribution after payment of collection costs to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) which received N4.1 billion and N2.3 billion respectively, was put at N477.049 billion, representing a N113.457 billion shortfall.
From this amount, the Federal Government got N227.516 billion, States, N145.39 billion while local governments went away with N88.96 billion. The sum of N45.1 billion was shared to the oil and gas producing states as derivation fund.
On the VAT distribution, the Federal Government got N10.6 billion; states (N35.6 billion); while the local governments got N24.9 billion.
Also distributed was the N7.617 billion Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) indebtedness to the federation account as well as N35.549 billion under the Subsidy- Reinvestment Programme (SURE-P)
Briefing journalists at the end of the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee's (FAAC's) meeting which was not concluded until late hours of the night in Abuja, the Minister of State for Finance, Dr Yerima Lawan Ngama, attributed the delay of the FAAC meeting and the distribution of the revenue to the National Council of Finance and Economic Development (NACOFED) which earlier took place in the month.
The gross revenue of N497.984 billion received for the month was lower than the N863.026 billion that accrued to the Federation Accounts in June by N365.042 billion.
Ngama linked the sharp decline in revenues partly to continuous theft of crude oil leakages, pipeline vandalism at various terminals, HP compressor failure and repair work.
In a communique by the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Jonah Otunla said that there was a downward review of some companies' estimates and a judgment debt by the Tax Appeal Tribunal on Education Tax reduced Petroleum Profi t Tax payable for the month.
"The distrbutable statutory revenue for the month is N483.482 billion. The sum of N115.000 billion part-payment of the arrears of augmentation for the month of June, 2013 was proposed for the month.
"The sum of N7.617 billion refunded by Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is also distributed. In addition, the sum of N35.549 billion is proposed for distribution under the SURE-P programme. The total revenue distributable for the month including Value Added Tax (VAT) is N715.845 billion" the statement said
