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Tag: Revenue

  • FIRS generates N12.6trn revenue in 3 years

    The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) said it generated N12.62 trillion revenue from tax in the last three years.

    FIRS said this in a document on its achievements, a copy of which was made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) by the Head, Communications and Servicom Department of the Service, Mr. Wahab Gbadamosi in Abuja. The breakdown of the amount showed that N3.3 trillion was generated in 2016, N4.02 trillion in 2017 and N5.32 trillion was realised in 2018, making it the highest revenue generated in the last three years.

    According to the document, the FIRS, under the leadership of Babatunde Fowler, designed initiatives to ensure a robust tax administration that is beneficial to all stakeholders.

    The organisation said non-oil tax revenue increased to N2.149 trillion in 2016, N2.5 trillion in 2017 and N2.852 trillion in 2018. The document quoted Fowler as saying: “The achievements mentioned above also demonstrates the diversification of the Nigerian economy by the Federal Government. “This does not mean that we have left behind the oil tax revenue.

    It grew from N1.15 trillion in 2016 to N1.52 trillion in 2017 and N2.52 trillion in 2018. Nonoil tax revenue is still over in excess of the oil tax revenue. “We also do collect four per cent in terms of cost of collection, but only for non-oil revenue collected. On oil revenue collection, we do not get any commission and we have been able to make sure that our services are more efficient and convenient to taxpayers.

    “This has brought about a considerable reduction in the cost of collection of actual taxes. “In 2016, it was 2.6 per cent, 2017, 2.49 per cent and 2018, 2.14 per cent, meaning that our actual cost of collection is heading downwards based on the efficiency and technology that we are deploying to tax collection. “Some of the ICT initiatives that we have continued to build on are the e-payment channels which makes it convenient and easy to pay taxes anywhere in the world and to also download receipts of payment from any point one so desires,” he said.

  • Twitter records better-than-expected revenue despite drop in users

    Twitter records better-than-expected revenue despite drop in users

    Twitter recorded a better-than-expected increase in revenue, according to fourth-quarter report released on Thursday, despite drop in monthly active users in the same period.

    TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports Twitter attributed the drop in monthly active users, in part, to its campaign of deleting millions of abusive accounts.

    Twitter’s overall revenue rose to $909 million in the quarter, and total advertising revenue rose 23 percent to $791 million.

    The micro-blogging firm said more than half of total advertising revenue came from video ads placed by corporate clients.

    Revenue from data licensing and other non-advertising businesses rose 35 percent from a year earlier to $117 million, the firm reported.

    The number of average daily active users exposed to Twitter ads, a new figure disclosed by the company, rose to 126 million in the fourth quarter from 115 million a year ago and 124 million in the previous quarter.

    Monthly active users totaled 321 million. That was in line with analysts’ forecasts, but down from 330 million a year earlier and 326 million in the third quarter.

    Twitter said that after the current quarter it would stop disclosing monthly active users, a statistic that has become standard among internet companies over the last decade.

    For the current quarter, Twitter said it expected total revenue to be between $715 million and $775 million. Analysts are expecting about $765 million, on average.

    Twitter said it expects operating expenses to rise about 20 percent year-on-year in 2019 due to efforts to improve its service, above analysts’ average estimate of 12 percent.

    It expects capital expenditures to be between $550 million and $600 million, well above analysts’ average estimate of $415 million for 2019.

     

  • DPR generates N1.3trn as revenue, $200m from ‘legacy indebtedness’ in 2018

    Mordecai Ladan, the Director, Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) on Tuesday said the organisation generated N1.3 trillion as revenue and an additional $200 million from legacy indebtedness in 2018.

    Mr Ladan made this known at the opening of a workshop on Revenue Generation, Accounting and Reporting Process to the Federation Allocation Accounting Committee (FAAC) in Abuja.

    The workshop was organised by the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF).

    Mr Ladan, represented by Adewale Johnson, said that the DPR had over the years been working assiduously to shore up federation government revenue profile.

    “In DPR, to shore up our revenue we embarked on reducing approval time for permit certificates as it now takes 48 hours to get approval for permits.

    “All our interventions are to ensure that revenue accruable to the federation account comes in as soon as possible and in 2018, for the first time, we collected N1.3 trillion as revenue for the year.’’

    The Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, while declaring the workshop open called on revenue generating agencies to re-strategise on their operational methods to surpass their previous records and targets.

    The minister was represented by Mohammed Dikwa, the Executive Secretary, Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA).

    According to Mrs Ahmed, low oil price and low revenue performance by some of the agencies result in low revenue, which in turn necessitate the introduction of series of palliative measures by the Federal Government to support states in payment of salaries.

    They include bail-out funds of N10 billion to each of the 35 states that had outstanding salary payments, restructuring of commercial loans and Budget Support Facility which the 35 states also participated in.

    She added that from the repayment of the Paris Club funds over deductions, N1.38 trillion was paid to the states in three tranches.

    Mrs Ahmed, however, said there was the urgent need on the part of all revenue generating agencies to ensure accountability and transparency in the collection and remittances to the federation account.

    She said that the revised reporting template would provide in transparent manner information on revenue generation.

    “The reforms introduced by the OAGF and the various agencies should as much as possible lower the time-lag between collection and remittance into the federation account.

    “The reporting template should be explicit enough and user-friendly too,’’ she said.

    Ahmed Idris, the Accountant-General of the Federation, said that President Muhammadu Buhari had approved a new and improved performance management framework for Government Owned Enterprises (GOEs) to raise revenue generation and remittances.

    He said that performance contracts for Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) to set targets for revenue generation would be set, while mandatory regular monitoring to ensure monthly publication of revenue and expenditure performance would be carried out.

    Mr Idris also said that quarterly remittance of interim operating surplus by GOEs would replace the annual remittance.

    Mr Idris added that the OAGF was working on modalities of establishing revenue department in GOEs to be manned by its staff.

    The workshop was also attended by Babatunde Fowler, the Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service, representatives of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Nigeria Customs Service.

    They all expressed their willingness and commitment to ensuring that remittances to the federation account were done transparently and timely.

     

  • Nigeria battling with serious revenue problem – Director of Budget, Ben Akabueze

    The Director of Budget in the Ministry of Budget and National Planning, Ben Akabueze on Wednesday declared that Nigeria is currently facing a serious revenue problem.
     
    Akabueze also revealed that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation was subsidising every litre of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, consumed in the country by N53.
     
    He, however, referred to the sum as under-recovery, stressing that it was the term that the NNPC often called it.
     
    He stated these while answering questions from participants at the Strategic Dialogues on the Morocco-Nigeria Relations in Abuja.
     
    Akabueze said, “For us in Nigeria, lately there has been a lot of talk about government’s borrowings and those who talk about it are justified to express the concern. But the truth is that I think we are generally having the wrong discussion. I personally don’t think we have a debt problem, but we have a serious revenue problem, which, if we do not address, will snowball into a debt problem.
     
    “But instead of having a discussion around the revenue issue, we are talking about the debt. Morocco, for instance, has a 63 per cent debt to GDP ratio; we have a 20 per cent debt to GDP ratio. Morocco has over 3.4 per cent deficit to the GDP ratio; we have a statutory cap of three per cent.”
     
    He added, “The real issue is that in 2017, for instance, our debt service to revenue ratio crossed 60 per cent. There are two options of a policy standpoint in trying to address the numerator, which is debt, at a time when you have huge infrastructure deficit that needs to be addressed.
     
    “And this is also at a time when the economy remains pretty fragile and, therefore, government spending is critical to sustain and drive growth. Therefore, focusing on the numerator in times like this may not be the solution. This is why revenue is what we need to focus on.”
     
    Akabueze talked about oil price and stated that despite the rise in the cost of crude, there had been no corresponding growth in Nigeria’s revenue.
     
    This, he said, was because the country was spending more to import virtually all the refined products from crude oil.
     
    The budget director stated, “On oil price, for us it is a double-edged sword unfortunately. This ought to be a season where we should be clicking glasses with regards to the oil price. But right now, practically every drop of refined petroleum product that we consume in the country is imported.
     
    “And the one single factor that determines the price of refined product is the price of crude. In essence, while we export the crude at about $80 (per barrel), we effectively import back the same crude at about $100 importation price for refined products. And that explains why despite the strong oil prices, we are not seeing a corresponding growth in government revenue.”
     
    On the amount being spent by the NNPC in subsidising PMS, Akabueze stated that the huge financial outlay had also dragged down the country’s revenue.
     
    “Also at the moment, in terms of pricing of petroleum products, for every litre of petrol, there is a N53 under-recovery. Well, that is the term that the NNPC, which has this responsibility, calls it and so who am I? This represents a significant value for us. Hence, the need to diversify the economy remains urgent,” he added.

  • Nigeria has revenue problems – Acting finance minister declares

    Nigeria has revenue problems – Acting finance minister declares

    The Acting Minister of Finance, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, says Nigeria does not have debt problem because the country’s debt ratio to GDP is below the three per cent threshold set by the Fiscal Reasonability Act.
    She noted that the main challenge confronting the nation is revenue problem, saying that the nation lacks the revenue to pay salaries and to also meet the recurrent and capital expenditures.
    She added that the national debt appears high because the country is currently facing a low revenue challenge.
    Ahmed said this on Friday during a visit to the Nigeria Customs Service Headquarters in Abuja.
    The minister also stressed the importance of improving revenue generation to enable Nigeria to achieve its economic objectives.
    She said, “People have raised concerns about our debt profile, but we do not have a debt problem.
    “Our debt ratio to GDP is still below three per cent, which is the threshold set by the Fiscal Reasonability Act.
    “What we have is a revenue problem. We don’t have revenue to pay salaries and to meet the recurrent as well as the capital expenditure.”
    Ahmed said the functions of the NCS in regard to revenue generation were germane to the success of the Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
    According to the minister, it is for this reason that the NCS is constantly being pushed to improve revenue collections.
    Ahmed said government had considered raising Value Added Tax and Excise Duty as well as including more items on the Excise Duty list.
    She said however that government had decided to hold on to the idea until the economic condition in the country improved.
     
     

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 15 revenue generating agencies underpaid N8.1trn under Jonathan — Lai Mohammed

    15 revenue generating agencies underpaid N8.1trn under Jonathan — Lai Mohammed

    The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, on Monday said N8.1 trillion that 15 revenue generating agencies of the federal government failed to remit to the Federation Account between 2010 and 2015 is equal to Nigeria’s yearly national budget.

    According to a statement by his spokesperson, Segun Adeyemi, the minister stated this in Osogbo, Osun State, while commissioning phases one and two of the channelization, de-silting, flood control and development of Okoko and Ogbagba rivers, on behalf of President Muhammadu Buhari.

    Recall that the Governor of Gombe State, Ibrahim Dankwambo, had first made the disclosure Thursday last week while addressing State House correspondents at the end of the National Economic Council in Abuja. He said the discovery was made by the auditing firm, KPMG.

    According to the minister in Osogbo, the discovery is many times worse than the N1.34 trillion allegedly stolen by 55 public officials between 2006 and 2013.

    “Recently, the Federal Government ordered an audit (between 2010 and 2015) of 15 government revenue generating agencies. The result was the discovery that the agencies had not remitted over 8.1 trillion Naira to the Federation Account. This amount is about six times the N1.34 trillion stolen between 2006 and 2015.

    ”It is also the equivalent, on the average, of the country’s yearly national budget! Imagine, for a moment, how many kilometres of roads could have been constructed, how many kilometres of rail tracks that could have been laid, and how many modern hospitals and schools that could have been built if that money had been properly accounted for,” Mohammed was quoted as saying.

    The minister who was speaking before a crowd at the event, said the Buhari administration’s fight against corruption remained very critical because it will free much-needed resources for national development.

    Mohammed said the projects being executed by the present administration, including the one that was commissioned in Osogbo, one of 53 being commissioned across the country, could have long been completed but for the mind-boggling looting of the treasury by previous administrations, which deprived the nation of infrastructural growth.

    He said every kobo that is not looted is a plus for development, adding: ”This is why we will not stop talking about those who have looted the public treasury, despite the pushback from their apologists. If we do not stop the looting of the treasury, there will be no money for the kind of projects we are commissioning here in
    Osogbo today.”

    Corroborating the minister’s statement on the unremitted funds, Governor Rauf Aregbesola said the share of Osun State from the said amount is N75 billion, which, he said, would have been more than enough to pay all civil servants their salaries and complete all infrastructural projects of his government.

    Speaking on the commissioned project, the minister said it was the first time the Ecological Fund Office was commissioning any project and handing it over to the host community.

    He said the triple project, which was one of the 12 4th Quarter, 2016 ecological intervention projects across the six geo-political zones approved by the President in October 2016, was due to the perennial flooding which had claimed lives and destroyed property in Osogbo Township.

    ”I have no doubt in my mind that the successful completion of these projects would enhance the holistic solutions to soil erosion and flood menace in Osogbo town. This would at the same time reduce the danger to lives and property associated with erosion and persistent flooding that has been experienced here in the recent time,” Mohammed said.

     

  • 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.

     

  • Lagos generates N103.5b revenue in Q1 2018

    The Lagos State Government generated an Internally-Generated Revenue (IGR) of about N103.5 billion for the first quarter of 2018.

    The state’s commissioner for economic planning and budget, Olusegun Banjo, made this known at a briefing in Lagos on Tuesday.

    Banjo said that the figure recorded was higher than N96.8 billion generated for the same period last year.

    The commissioner spoke at the ongoing 2018 ministerial press briefing to commemorate the third anniversary of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s administration.

    The IGR is about 57 per cent of the projected internally-generated revenue of the state. By implication, the state government had a shortfall of 43 per cent for its IGR.

    The state government had projected to internally generate N60 billion monthly to finance its budget.

    Banjo explained further that the Lagos Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) generated N84.19 billion in first quarter of 2018, noting that the performance of LIRS in quarter one of 2018 is N9.64 billion more in absolute terms.

    According to him, federal transfers contributed N38.5 billion to its revenue in the first quarter.

    The commissioner also disclosed that though the rebate provided in the payment of Land Use Charge would affect the state government projected revenue for the year 2018, the loss would not significantly affect the budget implementation as the state government would device other means to generate revenue to make up the shortfall from Land Use Charge.

    He added that the government would sustain the budget performance in the second quarter and meet its capital-recurrent expenditure ratio of 67:33.