What FG Should Do With N1.9trn FAAC Revenue—Uwaleke
The Federal Government generated N1.9trn in June which was majorly driven by fuel subsidy removal and naira depreciation.
The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) will share the proceed among the Federal, State and Local Governments.
It is reported that statutory collections were N1.7trn, Value Added Tax (VAT) N293bn while N12bn was generated from electronic money transfer charges.
This is the highest ever allocation that would be shared. Nigeria removed petroleum subsidy and deregulated the importation of petroleum products.
The decision is estimated to save the country N400bn annually but Nigerians are bearing the brunt as oil prices spiked from N190 to N520 and most recent, N620 per litre.
Professor Uche Uwaleke, the President, Association of Capital Market Academics of Nigeria and the Chairman of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria Abuja in his reaction told THE WHISTLER that the fund realized was remarkable.
Uwaleke highlighted four ways that the N1.9trn can be efficiently utilized in a transparent manner.
He said, “Regarding the remarkable increase in FAAC Allocation for June of over N1.9 trillion.”
On the ways to utilise the fund in a proper accountable and transparent manner, he suggested that the government should, “ Ascertain from the FAAC Allocation the proportion of the increase in funds resulting from the naira devaluation.”
Uwaleke made his second suggestion where he advised the FG to “Ring fence the funds by creating a special account for them.
The Prof suggested further that the FG should “Obtain approval from the National/State Assemblies as the case may be to apply them to special projects in education, health and infrastructure provision.”
His fourth suggestion was, “Such funds should not be used to implement increase in minimum wage or applied to recurrent expenditure.”
He urged all tiers of government to endeavour to increase workers’ salaries through reducing wastes and cost of governance as well as plugging loopholes in revenue collection and leveraging technology.