By Etuka Sunday
Revenue from crude oil into the federation account is short by N200 billion, a data published by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has revealed.
According to the data, crude oil revenue is short by 3.3 percent, equivalent to N5.797 trillion in 2014, from the previous figure of N5.997 trillion in the corresponding period of 2013, leaving the total
shortfall of N200 billion.
The shortfall which was attributed to the falling oil prices, according to the CBN data, forced the federal, state and local governments to share a total of N6.3 trillion as statutory allocations from January to October, 2014.
From N1.834 trillion in the first quarter of 2013, oil revenue fell to N1.808 trillion in the first quarter of 2014. In the second quarter oil revenue dropped to N1.795 trillion, and again to N1.723 trillion.
Since June, crude oil prices have been on the downward trend.
According to the CBN, average price of Nigeria crude oil fell from $114 per barrel in June to $59.97 per barrel as at December 24th.
Recall that the Federal Government has lamented the continuous fall in oil prices which has begun to have impact on the nations monthly allocation sharing.
Oil prices fell from $96.81 in September to $87.78 in October , and has recently fallen to $55 per barrel per day as against October the revenue generated has dropped by N36bn, leaving the total fund generated in November at N500bn as against N530bn in October.
The Minister of State for Finance, Amb. Bashir Yuguda stated this at the Federation Account Allocation Committee, FAAC, meeting in Abuja.
The Meeting which witnesses the presence of CME and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo- Iweala was filled with so much disagreement as source among the finance commissioners told our correspondence that she had to run out because of questions she couldn’t answer.
Okonjo- Iweala in an interview section with Journalist said her coming was to exchange views with the commissioners of Finance on what should be done at Federal and state level to help manage the current crises.
“Once we make adjustment at Federal level we needed to interact with the states to as to adjust to the present situation, “She however called on the States to look within so as to derive revenue from within.
She also assured that emphasis would be placed on VAT which is more beneficial to State and Local government level.
Amb. Yuguda elaborating on the revenue disbursed said, “N383bn mineral revenue was generated, non mineral revenue generated was N115bn. Total revenue generated for the month of November is N498bn, VAT collected is N60bn and cost of collection is N2.4bn with NNPC refunds of N55bn to the Federation account”.
Analysing the distribution, Yuguda said “the net allocation was shared among the three tiers of Government. The Federal government got N196bn, State got N99bn and the Local governments got N76bn, N35.5bn was allocated to Sure-p.
“According to him a total of N500bn was generated for the month of November and a drastic drop of 33% in export volume between Sept and Oct, 2014 and further drop in crude oil from $96 in Sept. to $87 in Oct. impacted negatively on the revenue for the month.
