NEITI: N28.58tn Remitted to Federation Account in Five Years

Chineme Okafor in Abuja 

The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) yesterday put the total amount remitted to the Federation Account between 2012 and 2016 at N28.58 trillion.

It said the remittances came from three major sources: mineral revenues, non-mineral revenues and value added tax (VAT).

NEITI said in a statement from its Director of Communications and Advocacy, Dr. Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, that the information on the earnings was contained in its latest Fiscal Allocation and Statutory Disbursement (FASD) Audit report for 2012-2016.

According to it, apart from remittances to the Federation Account, the audit tracked statutory allocations and their applications with specific focus on nine states, four interventionist agencies and five special funds.

It explained that the essence was to examine funds receipt and utilisation, adding that the nine states covered by the report are Rivers, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, Nasarawa, Delta, Ondo, Imo, Kano and Gombe.

The federal agencies covered included the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF), Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) and Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), while the special funds were Natural Resources Development Fund (NRDF), Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF), Excess Crude Account (ECA), Ecological Fund (EF) and Stabilisation Fund (SF).

In its explanation, NEITI said the N28.58 trillion remitted to the Federation Account showed that monies from mineral resources, especially oil, contributed the highest sum of N18.15 trillion after deductions for joint venture cash calls and subsidy claims, followed by non-mineral sources’ N6.68 trillion contribution and VAT’s payment of N3.73 trillion.

The NEITI equally noted that a year-by-year breakdown of the total remittances showed that N4.19 trillion was remitted in 2012, N4.73 trillion in 2013 while in 2014, it was N4.69 trillion, in 2015, N2.89 trillion and N1.65 trillion remitted in 2016.

It said an analysis of the N18.16 trillion mineral revenues shared among the three tiers of government showed that the federal government received N8.32 trillion between 2012 and 2016; the 36 state governments shared N4.22 trillion while the 774 local governments got N3.25 trillion.

It added that this was, however, exclusive of N2.36 trillion earned by oil producing states as 13 per cent derivation payment.

The report also added that from the share of non-mineral revenues of N6.68 trillion, the federal government received N3.52 trillion, while the 36 states got N1.79 trillion and 774 local governments took N1.38trillion.

The total VAT revenue of N3.73trillion was also shared with the federal government taking N560 billion, the 36 states got N1.88 trillion and 774 local governments got N1.31 trillion.

The report also revealed that out of total mineral revenue, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) remitted N8.62 trillion, the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) remitted N3.80 trillion, while the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) remitted N10.46 trillion.

“NNPC’s net remittances to the Federation Account reduced from N2.38 trillion in 2012 to N789 billion in 2016. Out of the N18.16 trillion mineral revenues remitted in the period 2012-2016, the year 2013 accounted for the highest receipt of N4.73 trillion.

“There was a decrease in global oil revenues from 2015, which accounted for the decrease in mineral revenues from N4.68 trillion in 2014 to N2.89 trillion in 2015 and N1.65 trillion in 2016,” NEITI said.

On revenues allocation and utilisation by the states, the report said Akwa Ibom received the highest total mineral revenue of N873.59 billion among the nine states covered by the exercise, followed by Delta State, which received N713.15 billion.

Nasarawa State got the lowest mineral revenue of N145.88 billion, closely followed by Gombe State with N155.22 billion. Imo and Ondo States received N190.42 billion and N247.87 billion respectively.

It said an analysis of expenditure patterns among the nine states showed that from 2012 to 2016, Akwa Ibom State spent the largest amount of N947.79 billion on capital expenditure, followed by Delta State, which allocated N493.77 billion to capital expenditure.

Nasarawa also had the least capital expenditure of N65.11 billion followed by Ondo State with N138.67 on capital expenditure.

On management of funds in some special accounts, the NEITI explained that the Natural Resources Development Account (NRDA) for instance which was established to develop alternative mineral resources, had N486.26 billion credited to it in the period from which N543.63 billion was released for various projects contrary to the purpose of the fund.

The NRDA, it said also served as a borrowing fund for the federal government to meet its obligations in areas such as budget deficits, national security, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and the Nigerian Armed Forces.

Similarly, for the Ecological Fund (EF), the NEITI said it was set up to address serious ecological problems across the country and got N276.5 billion statutorily transferred to it within the period.

The fund in the EF, it added, were used for purposes other than which they were established. It said for instance a loan of N93,768,951,164 was released to the federal government for funding of budget deficits and advance to states and local governments from the EF to meet shortfalls in their revenue but most of the loans granted might not be recovered.