FAAC Disbursed N1.86 Trillion To FG, States, LGs In Q1 2020 – NEITI

The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has  said that the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) disbursed N1.86 trillion out of about N1.95 trillion to the three tiers of government in the first quarter of 2020.

NEITI disclosed  in its quarterly review that the federal government received N791.4 billion, the  36 states shared N669 billion, while the 774 local government areas received N395 billion.

According to NEITI,  N95 billion was allocated to  the North East Development Commission, the Excess Crude Account, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigeria Custom Service (NCS) and the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR).

According to the report, FAAC first quarter 2020 disbursement of N1.945 is the. highest  since 2014. The disbursement since 2015 were N1.648 trillion in Q1 2015, N1.132 trillion in Q1 2016, N1.411 trillion in Q1 2017, N1.938 trillion in Q1 2018, and N1.929 in Q1 2019.

NEITI’s in a statement signed by the Director, Communications and Advocacy, Dr. Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, on Monday, May 11, warned that the COVID-19 pandemic would affect government’s revenue, adding that it would affect the budgets of the federal, States and local governments.

 “On prospects of FAAC disbursements for the rest of the year as a result of the impact of COVID-19, the review remarked that in the  light of the ‘double whammy’ of declining oil demand and oil prices as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, government revenue would likely continue to fall in subsequent months.

“As global crude oil prices plummet in the midst of the global oil supply glut arising from the lockdown of economic activities in many countries of the world, all tiers of government will struggle to fund their 2020 budgets,” the statement said.

However, in the Q1 disbursement, Osun state received the  lowest allocation of N6.44 Billion, while Delta state received the highest allocation of N52.03 billion.

Other states with the highest allocations were Lagos (N26.23 billion), Bayelsa (N35.14 billion), Rivers (N39.99 billion) and  Akwa Ibom (N40.61 billion).0

“While total disbursements in Q1 2020 were slightly higher than Q1 2019 and Q1 2018, disbursements to the 3 tiers of government in Q1 2020 were slightly lower than Q1 2019 and Q1 2018. This is due to transfers to other accounts in Q1 2020 which were not done in either Q1 2019 or Q1 2018. These include allocations to the North East Development Commission and transfer to Excess Crude Account,” the statement added.