The Federal Government and 36 states of the federation on Monday resolved their differences over mounting fuel subsidy deductions as they approved the sharing of N615.75bn among the three tiers of government.Similarly, the Federal Government bowed to pressures from the state governors as it released $2bn (N310bn) for the completion of abandoned projects across the federation.The Minister of State for Finance Dr. Yerima Ngama, who disclosed this shortly after the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee meeting, said N615.75bn was shared for the month of October among the three tiers of government.The amount, when compared to the N611bn shared in September, represented an increase of N4bn or 0.6 per cent.The meeting was inconclusive when it initially convened a week ago due to opposition from the states over some outstanding issues, especially they alleged illegal deductions by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation for fuel subsidy.Commissioners of Finance of the 36 states had last month walked out on the FAAC in protest against what the alleged was the N450bn illegally deducted from the Federation Account by the NNPC and Petroleum Product Pricing and Regulatory Agency as fuel subsidy.However, at Mondays meeting, which was presided over by Ngama, members of FAAC considered and shared the statutory revenue for the month of October.We met last week and we had to adjourn. We resumed today and we have already successfully concluded the meeting, the minister said.Asked why it took so long to share the revenue, he said that the 36 state governors and their commissioners of Finance were no longer comfortable with the soaring increase in the amount spent on subsidy of petroleum products.The minister explained that because the pump price of petrol was fixed, the Federal Government ended up in a situation that made the subsidy to increase every month, thereby making it unbearable for the states.Ngama said, For sometimes, we have been deliberating on this issue of petroleum subsidy. The commissioners are not comfortable with the rising cost of fuel subsidy. The government has it as a policy to subsidise petroleum products, but because of it, we end up in a situation where the subsidy has been increasing from month to month.And the burden has become unbearable to the commissioners. This is because whatever resources we raise, we have a decision to decide how to use our own revenue; whether to use it for payment of subsidy or to use our own revenue for the provision of our physical infrastructure and provision of social amenities for our citizens.The governors and the commissioners believe that the total amount that is devoted to the subsidy is so high that it is not justifiable, he added.On the sharing of revenue, Ngama said for the month of October, the gross revenue available from Value Added Tax was N51.64bn as against N60.73bn distributed in the preceding month.He added that the distributable statutory revenue for the month was N440.47bn, which showed a decrease of N112.672bn or 20 per cent when compared to that of September.In addition, the sum of N113.398bn was proposed as augmentation as a result of the shortfall in distributable revenue.The minister said the total distributable revenue for October was N603.44bn, a decrease of N8.0bn or 1.13 per cent over the amount distributed in September.Ngama said there was foreign exchange gain of N4.04bn, being the difference between the average rate of the naira to the dollar and the budgeted rate.According to him, the Federal Government got N250.18bn statutory payment; the 36 states received N139.17bn, while the local government areas got N101.74bn.The minister noted that the $2bn to complete abandoned projects would be withdrawn from the Excess Crude Account.Ngama said, Apart from this, we are also going to effect some payment from the Excess Crude Account; about $2bn will be released to various tiers of government.And with that, we believe that the various projects that have been started will be completed to put this economy on the path of growth.
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