17 May 2014, Abuja – The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has said it will sustain its campaign to get fuel subsidy removed once and for all by the Federal Government.
Addressing journalists at the end of the April FAAC meeting in Abuja yesterday, Chairman, Finance Commissioners Forum of FAAC Mr Timothy Odah, said the committee it set up to investigate issues of petroleum subsidy was still carrying on with its work.
Odah said the Finance Commissioners’ Forum is determined to ensure the removal of the petroleum subsidy which recommendation it had submitted to the Federal Government.
In March this year, a committee comprising six Accountants-Generals and Commissioners for Finance was mandated to investigate the impact of subsidy on the country.
At the end of the plenary session of the FAAC meeting yesterday, the sum of N634.721 billion was shared between the Federal Government, States and Local Government as revenue for the month of April.
The Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Mr Jonah Otunla, told journalists that “the distributable statutory revenue for the month of April was N533.746 billion, less than the N534.907 billion that was shared for the month of March.
According to him: “The total revenue distributable for the current month, including Value Added Tax (VAT) of N65.425 billion is N634.721 billion. The sum of N35.55 billion is proposed for distribution under the SURE-P programme.”
A breakdown of the distribution showed that the Federal Government received N249.060 billion representing 52.68 per cent; states got N126.327 billion, representing 26.72 per cent, while local governments got a cheque of N97.392 billion, amounting to 20.6 per cent.
Otunla also disclosed that N55.2 billion, representing 13 per cent derivation revenue was shared among the oil producing states. The mineral revenue collected for April was N474.881 billion, less than the N519.990 billion realised in March representing a difference of N45.109 billion.
The non-mineral revenue collected during the period under review was N109.27 billion. The figure, showed an increase of N14.902 billion from the N94.368 billion that was collected in March.
Otunla lamented that oil revenue for April declined when compared to the previous month, but N50.405 billion was transferred to the nation’s Excess Crude Account (ECA) which is a decline from the N79.45 billion that was transferred the previous month. However, the transfer increased the amount in the ECA to $3.6 billion.
The AGF attributed the decline to production shut-in at Qua Iboe and Yoho Terminals, shut down of Forcados and Bonny terminals, and repair works on Bonny and Brass Terminals due to oil theft and pipeline leakages.
– The Nation