Finance Minister – FG, States, LGs Got N5.5tn In Eight Months

Between September 2018 and April this year, the three tiers of government shared the sum of N5.5tn as revenue allocation from the federation account.

The amount, distributed by the Federation Account Allocation Committee, was shared from two major revenue components.

They were statutory allocation where the sum of N4.8tn was shared during the eight months period and N784.7bn shared under the Value Added Tax revenue.

The disbursement of the amount was confirmed by the Minister of Finance, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, in Abuja during an interactive session with journalists.

The federation account is currently being managed on a legal framework that allows funds to be shared under three major components-statutory allocation, Value Added Tax distribution; and allocation made under the derivation principle.

Under statutory allocation, the Federal Government gets 52.68 per cent of the revenue shared; states, 26.72 per cent; and local governments, 20.60 per cent.

The framework also provides that Value Added Tax revenue be shared thus: FG, 15 per cent; states, 50 per cent; and LGs, 35 per cent.

Similarly, an extra allocation is given to the nine oil producing states based on the 13 per cent derivation principle

The finance minister did not give a breakdown of the amount disbursed but analysis by our correspondent from the monthly allocation to states showed that the sum of N741.84bn was shared in September last year while October had an allocation of N698.71bn.

For the month of November, the sum of N788.14bn was distributed to the three tiers of government, while N812.76bn, N649.19bn and N610.37bn were distributed in December, January and February respectively.

For the months of March and April this year, further analysis of the allocation showed that the sum of N619.85bn and N617.56bn were shared respectively among the three tiers of government.

The minister said, “The Federal Ministry of Finance has continued to remain responsible in ensuring revenue sharing to the three tiers of government in accordance with the provision of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission Act.

“A total sum of N4.8tn was distributed to the three tiers of government between September 2018 and April 2019 from the Federation Account.

“Similarly, the sum of N784.7bn realised from VAT for the same period was also shared.”