Akure — The Ondo State Government said it earned N6.9 billion as revenue in the months of January and February, 2006 out of which N3.04 bn came to the coffers of the state as mineral derivation being one of the oil producing states in the country.

The Commissioner for Finance and Planning, Chief Tayo Alasoadura, disclosed this in Akure on Saturday, while speaking on the state of the finance of the state.

According to him, the state got N3. 49 bn from the federation accounts and internally generated revenue in January, while it earned N3.26 bn from the same sources in February.

Giving a breakdown of the revenue, the commissioner said that the state got N1.512 bn as statutory allocation in January and N1.463 bn in February, while it received N1.51 bn as mineral derivation in January and N1.534 bn in February.

He added that N220.8 million accrued to the state from Value Added Tax in January and N 128 million in February, while it also had N323.8 million as IGR in January and N217.8 million in February.

Alasoadura, however, said that the state paid N77.269 to service its foreign debts in each of the two months, while another N6.59 million was deducted in February for the fertilizer supplied to the state.

Speaking about the allocation of the funds to different sectors, he said that N819.7 million was earmarked for personnel in January and N909.9 million for the same in February.

He also stated that N604 million was released to the Ondo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission in January and N613.9 million in February, being 40 per cent of the mineral derivation due to the commission.

The money, according to him, was for the execution of development projects by OSOPADEC in the oil producing communities of the state, saying that N1.474 bn or 42.24 per cent of the revenue was earmarked for capital development projects in January, while N1.249 bn or 61.6 per cent was set aside for the same purpose in February.

He also explained that the delay in the release of funds for government projects was caused by the inability to quickly resolve some fundamental problems associated with the allocation and disbursement of funds from the federation accounts.