Daily Independent (Lagos)
David Agba and Adeola Yusuf
6 July 2009
Abuja/ lagos — Akwa Ibom State has, for the third time this year, received the highest allocation from the Federation Account, doing so in June 2009 with N11.27 billion; above the N8.3 billion it got in May.
It emerged at the weekend that the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) at its meeting in late June disbursed N313 billion to the three tiers of government, against N230 billion shared the previous month.
This is apart from N33 billion disbursed from the Excess Crude Account, being the difference between budget and actual amount.
In June, Rivers received N10.96 billion (N8.05 billion in May), Delta N10 billion (N7.4 billion), Lagos N10.8 billion (N6.7 billion), and Kano N6.8 billion (N5.18 billion).
Former oil-producing state, Cross River, which received N3.4 billion (N2.088 billion), rose in ranking from 31st in May to 26th in June - beating the likes of Zamfara, Yobe, Jigawa, Enugu, and Sokoto which received higher amounts in May.
The lowest recipients in June include Gombe N2.8 billion (N2.12 billion in May), Nasarawa N2.7 billion (N2.081 billion), Ebonyi N2.72 billion (N2.04 billion), and Ekiti N2.87 billion (N2.20 billion).
The figures are total net allocations from statutory and Value Added Tax (VAT) proceeds to states and councils.
Other disbursements in June are Federal Government N124 billion (N95 billion in May), Federal Capital Territory (FCT) councils N736 million (N749 million), Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) N1.43 billion (N1.54 billion), and Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) N3.45 billion (N2.69 billion).
It was also learnt at the weekend that Aso Rock has ordered the Ministry of Petroleum to disburse N20 billion subsidy to oil importers and marketers to avert another fuel scarcity.
Economic activities were grounded in the last fuel scarcity gridlock caused by a halt in imports by marketers.
Nigeria spends N1.582 billion subsidy on each 30,000 tonnes (1,341 litres) of fuel import because of ineffective refineries and insufficient local production to meet the 32 million litres consumption per day.
Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) General Secretary, Thomas Olawore, said the N20 billion awaiting disbursement is subsidy for products "brought by our members between January and June 2009.
"Our imports during this period are very small, but the government, through the Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), has released the money to the ministry. All our claims are now with the ministry and they amount to between N18 and N20 billion.
"We are now pleading that they should pay us our money as quickly as possible. We don't want it to get to the level it got last year before they would pay."
This amount, Olawore explained, is for the Petroleum Support Fund (PSF) in which "they are owing us and we are owing them too. The PEF runs some scheme known as bridging, where invariably we all claim money from them.
"Another money we claim is the National Transportation Allowance (NTA). In this, the PEF has settled the majors except one or two. It is an on-going reconciliation."
He said the challenge the PEF has is the Kaduna Refinery which is not functioning, and because the Port Harcourt and Warri Refineries are also not functioning, fuel consumed in the North and in a large part of the East is from Lagos.
"We bridge massively from Lagos to the East and the North. The North is 100 per cent bridging while the bridging to the East is 55 per cent to 60 per cent.
"The PEF collects some allowances on each litre of product sold, and it is based on the assumption that the volume of bridging should not be more than 40 per cent, but it is now getting to about 60 per cent.
When it hits that particular level, it would be difficult for the PEF to pay, because the allowance will not be easy to claim. So, we always try to work out modalities with the PEF on how they would pay us.
"Payments have been going on except in some areas. The bill may not be very clean, and it may not be very dirty either."
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