FG, States, LGs finally share N647bn

The Federation Accounts Allocation Committee
has resolved the crisis that made it impossible to share the statutory allocation
for February on Tuesday to pave the way for the disbursement of funds to the three
tiers of government. Tuesday’s meeting of FAAC had ended in deadlock following
disagreements on the revenue figures remitted into the Federation Account by the
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation for sharing by the three tiers of
government. On Tuesday night, the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, had
intervened by reconvening the meeting for Wednesday.

At the Wednesday’s reconvened meeting held at the headquarters of the Ministry of Finance, which was presided over
by Adeosun, the committee distributed the sum of N647.39bn to the three tiers of
government. Out of this amount, the Federal Government received N270.8bn; states got
N173.75bn; and the 774 local governments were allocated the sum of N130.9bn. The
committee also allocated the sum of N57.35bn to the oil-producing states based on
the 13 per cent derivation formula, while N14.55bn was approved for payment to the
revenue-generating agencies as cost of collection. Briefing journalists shortly
after the meeting, which lasted less than an hour, Adeosun said she personally
engaged state governors in a meeting on Tuesday night to find a way around the
stalemate.