The latest Quarterly Review of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has revealed that a total of N4.545 trillion was released as FAAC allocations between January and September 2017.
Out of this amount, N1.757 trillion was shared in the third quarter of 2017 as against the N1.377 trillion and N1.411 trillion disbursed in the second and first quarters of the year.
The publication which contains information and data on FAAC disbursements for the third quarter of 2017 and on mid-year budget implementation also shows that between January and September 2017, the federal government received the highest allocation of N1.851.32 trillion, followed by state governments with N1.509 trillion and the 774 local governments with N913.8 billion. The sum of N271.78 billion went to DPR, Customs and the FIRS as cost of revenue collections.
Further analysis indicates that the revenues shared to the federating units were higher in the third quarter of 2017 which has been the trend for some time.
According to the review “positive developments in the oil sector – evident from resurgent oil prices and increased production levels. The third quarter also represents the summer season when global oil demand and consequently oil prices are generally higher than other times of the year and this could possibly explain the higher revenue accruals to the Federation account in these third quarters”
The reports adds that “upward trend in the FAAC disbursements to the three tiers of governments are encouraging signs which if sustained will improve government expenditures, help to boost economic activities and move the country further away from recession”.
The analysis also compared government’s earnings in 2017 to 2016 and showed that total revenues were higher in the first half of 2017 than the corresponding period of 2016 by 22%.
The review further notes that states will have to aggressively raise their Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) in order to be able to actualize their budgets.