TheNewsGuru

Tag: FAAC

  • Atiku to jail looters in Buhari’s administration, fight system-wide corruption

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, will open a system-wide fight against corruption as soon as he is elected into office.
    TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports this is contained in a Sunday statement signed by Kola Ologbondiyan, National Publicity Secretary of the party.
    According to the statement, “all those looting the national treasury, including those now enjoying President Buhari’s official cover, will definitely face the wrath of the law and go to jail”.
    The full statement reads: “The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) says its Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, is set to revamp our nation’s economy through the creation of qualitative employment for the youths.
    “The party says its candidate will also implement the political and economic restructuring of our nation in a manner that will engender unity, inclusiveness in governance and upliftment in the general standard of living for all our people.
    “PDP maintains that on election into office, its presidential candidate will immediately commence the marketing of Nigeria to the international business community, as well as providing a clement environment for businesses to thrive in our nation.
    “Atiku will open a system-wide fight against corruption as soon as he is elected into office by strengthening the institutions empowered by our laws to do their jobs, while he concentrates on the onerous duty of governance and rescuing our people from hunger, starvation, bloodlettings and wanton killings.
    “The rebranded PDP assures that all those looting the national treasury, including those now enjoying President Buhari’s official cover, will definitely face the wrath of the law and go to jail, because the Atiku Abubakar administration will not only fight poverty but will also uncompromisingly fight corruption.
    “The party noted that a combination of Atiku Abubakar and his running mate, Peter Obi, known internationally for their forthrightness, hardwork, ingenuity and managerial competencies, guarantees a prudent and result-oriented administration that will liberate our nation from the economic shackles that President Buhari’s wasteful, notoriously incompetent, and deceptive administration has plunged us into.
    “Atiku Abubakar comes with the Nigerian resilient entrepreneurial spirit to once again open up our economy, attract investments, create jobs and unite our citizenry for a more productive nation.
    “Already, our candidate, as a successful entrepreneur, has perfected an economic template that will reduce the cost of governance, plug wastages, tackle corruption, free our national resources currently being squandered by the Buhari administration and channel them for the welfare of the people.
    “What Nigerians earnestly desire now is a resourceful President, not an incompetent leader who lacks the capacity to run a complex economy; who stays aloof and completely insensitive to the plights of citizens, while providing official cover for his officials to fritter away trillions of naira from our beleaguered national treasury.
    “Our youths are earnestly seeking for an in-charge President, not one who rules by proxy. They look forward to a President who will give hope in the face of a consuming despair and one, whose words resonate with their aspirations in life.
    “Nigerians seek a President who will not watch helplessly while marauders and insurgents kill our brothers and sisters in their numbers; whose only achievement is plunging our nation into economic recession, collecting foreign loans and accumulating debts with nothing to show.
    “PDP holds that President Buhari has failed on all fronts. He has failed on the economy, on security and on the fight against corruption.
    “This 2019 election is therefore, a direct referendum on these failures and the determination of Nigerians to choose a new leader who will rescue our nation from the throes of hunger and starvation.
    “The 2019 election will never be about character assassination or mouthing some worn-out sloganeerings about corruption but will be about a demonstrable capacity to deliver on the mandate.
    “The Buhari Presidency by now knows that Nigerians are not buying their smear campaign against Atiku Abubakar as Nigerians have seen that all the Buhari Presidency had done in its almost four year term is paying lip service to fighting corruption while its members swim in an ocean of corruption.
    “Instead of this unnecessary fixation on our candidate, the PDP challenges President Buhari to step out and give account of his failed stewardship; how he ran down a once robust economy in a space of three years; why he is running a corrupt administration; why his administration failed to protect our slain compatriots and how trillions of naira are stolen under the cover of his Presidency.
    “Finally, the PDP forewarns all looters in the Buhari Presidency, including those involved in the alleged stealing of over N14 trillion from several sleazy oil deals; the alleged undisclosed oil revenue leading to the deadlock at the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC); alleged stealing of funds meant for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) among other sleazes covered by the Buhari Presidency, to get ready to vomit their loots and face the law in no distant time”.
     

  • Buhari intervenes in FAAC deadlock, orders immediate review of revenue template

    ..as FG, States, share N821.9bn for June

    President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered for the review of the revenue reporting template between the NNPC and the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC).

    The Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun conveyed the President’s directive on Friday while giving a breakdown on how N821.9 billion revenue generated in June was shared among the three tiers of government.

    “As you are aware, in the last couple of FAAC meetings, the accounts presented by NNPC were not acceptable by the states and so Mr President asked to be briefed on the issue.

    “Based on that briefing, Mr President asked for further information to be provided by both the Ministry of Finance and the NNPC.

    “Last Thursday, he held a meeting with myself, the Chief of Staff, the Minister of State for Petroleum and the NNPC team.

    “Mr President gave some certain directives, one which relates to FAAC, is the need to revise the template.

    “It was ascertained that the reporting template between the NNPC and FAAC was not providing the right level of assurance around the figures.

    “It is for this reason that he has directed that a new template be generated jointly between the Ministry of Finance, the office of the Accountant-General, NNPC and RMAFC,” she said

    Adeosun said Buhari also directed that henceforth, before FAAC meetings, a team from the Ministry of Finance and the NNPC should go through the figures and agree before presenting it to FAAC members.

    Giving a breakdown of the allocation for the month of June, Adeosun said that after deductions for cost of collections, the Federal Government received N283.54 billion.

    Adeosun said in accordance with the revenue sharing formula, the 36 states governments received N143.81 billion, while the Local Government Councils received an allocation of N110.87 billion.

    In addition, she announced that N37.4 billion representing 13 per cent of the mineral revenue generated in the month of June, was also shared among the oil producing states.

    To this end, Adeosun said the nation generated N393.17 billion as mineral revenue and N294.17 billion as non-mineral revenue in February.

    She said that in the spirit of saving for a rainy day, N100 billion was transfered to the Excess Crude Account, making the balance 2.27 billion dollars.

    Meanwhile, the Chairman, Commissioners of Finance Forum, Mr Mahmoud Yunusa, said the state governments agreed with the decision of President Buhari to review the revenue reporting template of the NNPC.

    He said that the Committee will closely monitor the development, to ensure that it achieves the desired effect.

    Earlier, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) introduced the Accountability Index to the representatives of Federal, States and Local Government authorities.

    The ICAN President, Mr Razaq Jaiyeola told FAAC members that the Accountability Index was an initiative of the Institute to ensure prudent management of public funds by the three tiers of government.

    He said that the index will focus on policy based fiscal forecasting and budget, scrutiny and audit, budget credibility and management of assets and debts.

    In summary, Jaiyeola said that the initiative will improve quality of governance in the country and tackle corruption in the public sector.

  • Respite for workers as FAAC releases N668bn to FG, states, LGs to pay salaries

    The Federation Accounts and Allocation Committee (FAAC) reached a compromise to release N668.898 billion to the three tiers of government for the month of May, pending the resolution of issues raised by the state governors over remittances from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

    The Federal Ministry of Finance on Friday, that, the move was to cushion the hardship being experienced by civil servants in many states of the country, who have been unable to receive their June salary.

    The ministry’s director of information, Hassan Dodo, who signed the statement said, “efforts are being intensified to address the unsatisfactory remittances.”

    Recall that the 36 state governors had accused revenue generating agencies, especially the NNPC, of withholding some monies that ought to go into the federation account for sharing.

    The N668.898billion released on Friday afternoon, according to Dodo, “is made up of statutory distributable sum of N575.475 billion and N 93.423 billion from the Value Added Tax (VAT).”

    The Federal Government received N282.223 billion of the total; State Governments – N181.167 billion; and Local Government Councils – N136.490 billion.

    The Oil Producing States got N53.071 billion as 13 per cent derivation while N15.947 billion was paid to the revenue generating agencies as costs of collections.

    The statutory revenue of N575.475 billion received for the month of May 2018 was lower than the N613.057 billion received for April 2018 by a total of N37.582 billion. From the total statutory revenue of N575.475 billion, the Federal Government was given N268.770 billion; the States – N136.324 billion; Local Government Areas – N105.100 billion; the Oil Producing States – N53.071 billion, and the revenue generating agencies received N12.210 billion as costs of collections.

    For the month of May 2018, the total revenue of N93.423 billion from the Value Added Tax (VAT) was N5.458 billion higher than the N87.965 billion distributed in April 2018.

    From the total of N93.423 billion, the Federal Government received N13.453 billion; the States received N44.843 billion; the Local Government Councils received N31.390 billion, while N3.737 billion was received by the revenue collecting agencies.

    Before the funds were released, state governors had directed their finance commissioners not to shift ground, unless the NNPC was prepared to remit fully, what is expected of it, into the federation account.

    As a first measure to stop future shortchanging of the federation account, the state governments had resolved to “strengthen the processes” of making revenue generating agencies transmit accurate amounts to the federation account.

    For three consecutive FAAC meetings, the remittances to the federation account by the NNPC had generated controversy, with the issue coming to a head, when NNPC remitted N127 billion into the account, instead of the expected N147 billion from royalties and Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT).

    The impasse forced Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun, to seek President Buhari’s intervention in the matter.

  • No salary for civil servants as FAAC suspends meetings indefinitely

    No salary for civil servants as FAAC suspends meetings indefinitely

    Many of the 36 states of the federation will not be able to pay salary of civil servants for June and July following the suspension of meetings indefinitely by the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC).

    The Chairman, Commissioners of Finance Forum, Mr Mahmood Yunusa on Thursday said FAAC has agreed to suspend meetings indefinitely until an effective revenue collection process is implemented.

    Yunusa said this in Abuja after the monthly FAAC meeting ended in a stalemate for the third consecutive time in one month.

    He said that the Committee was tired of battling with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) over oil revenue collections.

    The chairman said that the Committee had already taken the matter before President Muhammadu Buhari, adding “but in the short term, FAAC meetings have been suspended until a more effective collection method is established’’.

    “What we are looking for is for the process to be strengthened, once the process is strengthened there is no need for this fight.

    “It is about the system and the process and we are working on it. It is no longer a joking matter, it has gone to the highest level.

    “Mr President is highly interested in this and he is taking his time to ensure that the right thing is done.

    “Once the process is strengthened, the correct amount is supposed to go to the federal revenue account.

    “Even if it is small, we cannot challenge NNPC, so we are also helping NNPC from undue pressure,’’ he said

    Yunusa said that the decision to hold NNPC accountable came with a price, meaning some states may not be able to pay salaries.

    He, however, expressed the hope that once the process was completed, it would serve as a permanent solution to the reoccurring issue of under-remittance by NNPC.

    It will be recalled that a meeting was convened on June 27 and July 10 respectively, to share the revenue generated in the month of May, which both ended in a stalemate.

    Over the past couple of years, FAAC have had disagreements with NNPC over remittances into the Federation Account.

    The latest development is coming less than a year after the NNPC completed the refund of N450 billion to the federation account.

    The NNPC had for 67 consecutive months, paid an additional N6.33 billion into the federation account to be shared to federal, states and local governments.

    The payment, which started in Sept. 2011, was due to an audit, which showed that the NNPC had been under remitting revenue into the Federation Account.

  • Rescheduled FAAC meeting deadlocked over alleged distorted figures from NNPC

    Rescheduled FAAC meeting deadlocked over alleged distorted figures from NNPC

    The rescheduled meeting of the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) on Tuesday again ended in another stalemate.

    An official told reporters the meeting has been rescheduled for Thursday to attempt to broker a resolution, even as civil servants across the country are going into the second week without June salaries.

    This is the second time the meeting would end in confusion since June 27 when the initial schedule for the month ended without members agreeing to share the revenue brought for distribution by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

    Members of the committee, consisting of Commissioners for Finance and Accountants General from the 36 states of the federation and Abuja, had accused the NNPC of not remitting enough revenue for sharing.

    No communique was read at the end of the meeting as members hurried out from the finance ministry auditorium venue of the meeting.

    The chairman of the Commissioners of Finance Forum of FAAC, Mahmoud Yunusa, simply told reporters that members were breaking for consultation with their principals, the state governors.

    The following day, the NNPC spokesperson, Ndu Ughamadu, in a statement said the N147 billion revenue remitted to FAAC for sharing to the three tiers of government in June was “in line with the terms of agreement it had with governors on the matter.”

    Ughamadu said the agreement NNPC had with the governors was for the corporation to make a monthly remittance of N112 billion only to FAAC.

    He clarified that the remittance was subject to sufficient funds from its sale of domestic crude oil allocation for the corresponding month after meeting certain operational obligations.

    These included payment for cash call on Joint Venture (JVs), deductions for cost under recovery for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) and pipeline maintenance.

    The NNPC spokesperson said the NNPC was able to surpass the terms of agreement with the governors on the monthly remittance for June by about N35 billion.

    Since then, reports were that the committee have been holding accounts reconciliation meeting with the top management of the NNPC, finance ministry officials, Accountant General of the Federation and representatives of the commissioners of finance forum.

    However, after hours of the rescheduled meeting at the auditorium of the finance miinistry, members came out without any pronouncement of a resolution.

    At about 7.30 p.m., on Tuesday, the Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, led other officials from his office and the finance ministry out of the venue of the meeting without a word to journalists on the outcome of the meeting.

    Mr Idris kept a straight face as he led his team in the direction of the office of the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, on the 7th floor of the building apparently to brief her on the outcome of the meeting.

    Not long after, NNPC representatives at the meeting also left the venue of the meeting and headed towards their cars.

  • FAAC: FG, states, LGs share N701bn revenue for April

    The Federal Government, states and local governments shared N701 billion as revenue for the month of April, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Mr Mahmoud Isa-Dutse, said on Wednesday in Abuja.

    Isa-Dutse told newsmen that the amounts shared were the outcome of Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting.

    Giving a breakdown of the revenue accrued in April, the permanent secretary said mineral revenue increased by N50.7 billion, that is from N360.51 billion in March to N411.2 billion in April.

    He added that non-mineral revenue also increased by N81.25 billion, from N120 billion in March to N201.3 billion in April.

    He noted that Value Added Tax (VAT) collected increased from N80.35 billion in March to N83.4 billion in April.

    He indicated that “gross statutory revenue of N613 billion received for the month was higher than the N480.59 billion received in previous month by N132.45 billion.

    “Crude oil sales volume increased by 64 per cent, compared with 7.72 million barrels from the previous month, resulting in increased revenue from the Federation Crude Oil Export Sales by 226.90 million dollars.

    “Also, average crude oil price increased from 65.7 dollars to 66.78 dollars per barrel.

    “Performance for the month in review would have been better but for a few production shut-ins and shut-downs at various terminals for repairs and maintenance.”

    Isa-Dutse said looking at the significant increase in revenues, the federal, states and local government decided to save some of the month’s revenue for rainy day.

    To this end, the permanent secretary said, N24.5 billion would be converted and added into the dollars denominated Excess Crude Account.

    He added that “based on increased revenue for the month and after due consultation, it has been decided that we will take out N24.5 billion and credit it into the Excess Crude Account.

    “This brings the Excess Crude Oil Account balance to 1.11 billion dollars and the Excess Petroleum Profit Tax Account is 0.133 billion dollars,” he said.

    In summary, Isa-Dutse said, N276.53 billion was allocated to Federal Government, N140.2 billion to states and N108.1 billion was allocated to local governments.

    On the issue of reconciliation of accounts with Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Isa-Dutse said it was ongoing.

    He explained that reconciliation of monies collected by revenue generating agencies was also ongoing.

    Meanwhile, the Chairman, Finance Commissioner’s Forum, Mr Mahmud Yunusa, said states were planning to contest the current revenue sharing formula.

    He said it was not fair that Federal Government should take the lion share of the revenue “when states and local governments were closer to the people.

    “We are clamouring for review of the revenue sharing formula because most people reside in states and local governments.

    “The Federal Government only controls Abuja but where the real Nigerians reside are states and local governments.

    “So, we believe they should have more revenues so that they can work better, so that the people will feel the impact and presence of government.”

    Yunusa said states would soon make their demand formal so that the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) would begin the process of reviewing the current revenue sharing formula.

    Currently, the country is operating on a revenue allocation formula of; Federal Government — 52.68 per cent, State Governments — 26.72 per cent and Local Governments — 20.60 per cent.

    Also, 13 per cent of the oil and gas federally collected revenue is given to oil producing states and communities as derivation revenue to compensate for ecological risks of oil production.

    This formula was designed during the President Olusegun Obasanjo Administration.

    However in 2015, the RMAFC saw the need to review the formula for balanced development of the country, hence it embarked on nationwide sensitisation tour to the 36 states of the federation to campaign for review.

    The result was later submitted to former President Goodluck Jonathan, though it was never made public.

  • FAAC: FG, States, LGs settle differences with NNPC; share N626.8b for April

    The federal government, states and local governments shared N626.8 billion for the month of April.

    Ahmed Idris, the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), said this on Thursday in Abuja, while briefing Journalists on the outcome of the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting.

    Giving a breakdown of the revenue accrued in March, Mr Idris said N480.59 billion was received as gross statutory revenue, lower than N557.94 billion received in March by N77.34 billion.

    He said the reduction in revenue was due to a decrease in the crude oil export sales by 13 per cent when compared to 5.42 million barrels from the previous month.

    “The issues that negatively affected production were the Shut-ins and Shut-downs at various terminals for repairs and maintenance.

    “This resulted in reduced revenue from federation crude oil exports sales by 33.58 million dollars.

    “However, the average crude oil price increased from 63.08 dollars to 65.72 dollars per barrel.

    “There was a considerable rise in oil royalty for the month, while Companies Income Tax (CIT) and Import Duty recorded marginal increases.

    “Value Added Tax (VAT) decreased slightly but there was a significant drop in income from Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT).’’

    He said N83.7 billion was received from VAT, showing a decrease of N5.74 billion as against N89.4 billion received in February.

    Mineral revenue was N360.5 billion, indicating a decrease of N83.7 billion from the previous month, while non-mineral revenue was N120 billion, with an increase of N7 billion.

    For the Excess Crude Account (ECA), Mr Idris said the balance stood at 1.83 billion dollars from 2.3 billion dollars in the previous month.

    The shared amount comprised the month’s statutory distributable revenue of N480.5 billion, VAT of N83.7 billion and Forex Equalisation of N62.52 billion.

    Giving a breakdown of the distribution, he said N263.1 billion was allocated to the Federal Government, N167.5 billion to states and N126.29 billion was received by the local governments.

    Speaking on the issue of reconciliation of accounts with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mr Idris said it was ongoing.

    “There is no public finance system that will be devoid of reconciliations at any time.

    “So reconciliation is part of the order and in that particular instance, reconciliation that has started last month, continued this month and there is nothing new.

    “We could not meet yesterday because we felt certain milestone has to be reached and on getting to those milestones, we sat today and have considered the figures for distribution.

    “There was this gentleman agreement between FAAC and NNPC that whatever NNPC generates should be paid into the federation account and whatever expenses NNPC incurs, they should write to claim it.’’

    He said as far as the operations of the NNPC was concerned, vis-a-vis the retirement of FAAC, these were issues being considered during the state level discussion and there would be reports when they had been sorted out.

    He, however, said the amount being expected from NNPC after the reconciliatory process was not confirmed and would not want to speculate.

    “We do not talk on mere speculation or on hearsay, we have to wait for the amount to come and we pay to the last kobo.

    “We know what will be distributed and that is accounting and that is public finance.

    “We do not base our projections on speculations because there has to be factual data,’’ Mr Idris said.

     

  • Again, FAAC meeting deadlocked over poor remittances from NNPC

    Again the monthly meeting of the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) scheduled to hold on Wednesday in Abuja was disrupted over alleged poor revenue returns by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

    The Chairman, Finance Commissioners Forum of FAAC, Yunusa Mahmoud, who confirmed the cancellation of the meeting did not specify if the meeting was rescheduled.

    Mahmood expressed disappointment that the committee would again not be able to meet as the revenue returned by NNPC was too meager for members to consider sharing among the three tiers of government.

    “The meeting cannot hold because we have some challenges,” Mahmood said. “The revenue figures we got for the month is far less than what we expected to be remitted by the NNPC.”

    Recall that a similar development occurred in March which resulted in the meeting ending in a stalemate and confusion, as representatives of the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory went home in anger.

    The committee refused to approve the statutory allocations for the month following alleged discrepancies in revenue figures presented by the NNPC.

    The confusion was however patched up a day later following an emergency meeting convened by the Minister of Finance and Chairman of FAAC, Kemi Adeosun, who pleaded with members to share what was available to allow the NNPC reconcile the discrepancies in their returns.

    At the end, the committee agreed to share about N647.39 billion for February, pending the full reconciliation and balance of more than N100 billion paid back.

     

  • Net FAAC allocation in 2017 hits N1.73trn – NBS

    Net FAAC allocation in 2017 hits N1.73trn – NBS

    The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says the net Federal Account Allocation Committee (FACC) allocation to the 36 states in 2017 Fiscal Year stood at N1.73 trillion.

    The NBS stated this in“ Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) at State Level for 2017 report’’ published on the bureau’s website.

    According to the report, the total revenue available to the states is in the year is put at N2.67 trillion.

    Meanwhile, the NBS stated that the full year 2017 state IGR figure was N931.23 billion compared to N831.19 billion recorded in year 2016.

    This, the bureau stated it indicated a growth of 12.03 per cent year- on- year.

    The report stated that at the end of second half of 2017, total revenue generated by states was put at N432.65billion as against N409.09 billion in first half of the year.

    NBS stated that 31 states recorded growth in IGR while five states which included (Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Osun and Taraba) recorded a decline at the end of 2017 Fiscal Year.

    However, the bureau stated that the value of foreign debt stood at 19.9 billion dollars while domestic debt was N3.35 trillion at the end of the year respectively.