Nigeria lost 1.5m barrels of oil in June

Activities of Niger Delta militants caused Nigeria’s oil production to decline by 1.5 million barrels in June 2015, thus reducing total amount of money available for distribution by Federation Accounts Allocation Committee for the month of September by N90.2 billion compared to the previous month.

Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance, Dr Mahmoud Isa Dutse who chaired the FAAC meeting for September held on Thursday, said total amount available for distribution to the three tiers of government and other adjunct beneficiaries N420 billion as against the N510.270 shared in September for August, 2016.

Although price of oil increased slightly during the month Dutse said the huge volume of oil lost cancelled the gain.

Federal Government  collected N120.605 billion, states shared N91.891 billion while 774 local governments were allocated N68.555 billion.

Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) got a total of N6.467 billion, Nigeria Customs Service (NCS)- N3.832 billion and Department of Petroleum Resources ( DPR) got N1.033 billion.

Speaking with reporters at the end of the briefing, Mr John Inegbedion who is Chairman of Forum of Finance Commissioners, said states and local governments were desirous of a new revenue allocation formula for the country.

However, he noted that political intrigues especially lack of  interest by the Federal Government was the reason a new formula was yet to be fashioned.

He disclosed that work has started on the important legislation and that soon, something would happen.

Inegbedion who is Edo State Commissioner for Finance said a situation whereby bodies like FIRS, DPR and NCS were drawing direct funding from Federation Account was unconstitutional but that states agreed because it was the only way they could perform optimally.

According to him, the issue had generated heated arguments during many FAAC meetings.