By Benjamin Umuteme
Abuja
Civil servants across the 36 states of the federation will have a bumper Christmas celebration as the Federation Accounts Allocations Committee (FAAC) on Saturday distributed the sum of N609.95 billion among the three tiers of government for November.
Giving a breakdown of the distributable revenue, Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Ahmed Idris, told journalist present that the amount represents about N77.201 increase over the N532.75 billion shared in October, 2017.
According to the AGF, the gross statutory revenue of N549.532 received in the month of November was higher than the N443.045 billion received in the month of October by N106.487 billion.
“There was a decrease in revenue from export sales of $69.49 million due to decrease in crude oil production by 1.75 million barrels. However, the average price of crude oil increased from $48.65 to $52.07 per barrel.”
“As usual issues of maintenance of pipelines, sabotage and a brief Force Majuere at Bonny Terminalcontributed to oil production fall.”
Also distributed to all levels of government was N77.209 billion been Value Added Tax (VAT) for the month.
The AGF also disclosed that the sum of $133 million was in the Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT) account while the Excess Crude Account remained unchanged at $2.31 billion.
Fielding questions relating to report that the National Economic Council (NEC) approved $1 billion to fight insurgency from the ECA, Mr. Idris explained that until his office gets the go ahead for the release of the money it will still be in the account.
“There is no instruction yet from the Presidency. The federation has decided and we have no option than to obey their bidding,” he said.
On the Paris Club refund, the Director, Home Finance, Mrs. Siyanbola disclosed that only 27 States have so far refunded saying that administrative procedures was delaying payment to the other 9 states.
For chairman, forum of finance commissioners, Mahmoud Yunusa, November allocation was looking up and that the states would be able to pay salaries before Christmas.
