The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has distributed a total of N676.407 billion revenue for July to the federal, state and local governments as well as relevant agencies.
Besides, the federal government, in the first seven months of the year, has released N1 trillion for the execution of capital projects.
The FAAC allocation committee, at a virtual meeting chaired by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Dr. Mahmud Isa-Dutse, said in a communiqué that the gross statutory revenue of N543.788 billion was received for July.
This was higher than the N524.526 billion received in the previous month by N19.262 billion.
The gross revenue available from the Value Added Tax (VAT) was N132.619 billion as against N128.826 billion in the preceding month, resulting in an increase of N3.793 billion.
From the total distributable revenue of N676.407 billion; the federal government received N273.189 billion, states got N190.849 billion while the local government councils received N142.761 billion.
Similarly, oil-producing states received N42.851 billion as 13 per cent derivation revenue while two sub-heads, including the cost of collection and transfers to relevant agencies got N26.757 billion.
From the gross statutory revenue of N543.788 billion, the federal government received N254.688 billion; state governments, N129.181 billion and the local government councils, N99.593 billion.
The sum of N42.851 billion was given to the relevant states as 13 per cent derivation revenue and N17.474 billion was the collective total for the cost of revenue collection by revenue agencies.
The federal government also received N18.500 billion from VAT revenue of N132.619 billion, state governments received N61.668 billion, local government councils got N43.168 billion, while the cost of revenue collection and transfers collectively got an allocation of N9.283 billion.
Further details of the reference month showed that oil and gas royalty, Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT) and VAT increased considerably while Companies Income Tax (CIT), Import and Excise Duty recorded decreases.
The balance in the Excess Crude Account (ECA) as at August 19, stood $72.408 million, the communiqué said.
Meanwhile, the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Agba, has said the federal government has evolved fiscal measures aimed at improving the nation’s revenue base following the financial crisis occasioned by the global COVID-19 pandemic.
Agba, who represented the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, at the public hearing organised by the Senate Joint Committee on Finance and National Planning on the 2021-2023 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP), added that the federal government in the first seven months of this year released N1 trillion for the execution of capital projects.
He said government was also improving the tax administration framework to optimise government revenue, adding that this has been a major thrust of the administration’s Strategic Revenue Growth Initiative (SRGI).
According to him, “We have included in the 2021 – 23 MTEF/FSP, a Tax Expenditure Statement (TES) overview which seeks to dimension the cost of tax waivers/concessions, and evaluate their policy effectiveness.”
He said in order to enhance independent revenue generation and collection, the government will optimise the potential, operational and collection efficiency of Government-Owned Enterprises (GOEs) with a view to generating higher revenues required to fund the federal government budget.
“Current sub-optimal revenue performance of GOEs will be addressed through the effective implementation of the enhanced performance management framework.
“The key elements of the reform initiative include performance contracts for chief executive officers (CEOs) and key management staff members, which will set financial indicators and targets for each GOE.
“The cost-to-revenue ratio of GOEs has, by a presidential directive, been limited to a maximum of 60 per cent-70 per cent while regular monitoring and reporting of revenue and expenditure performance of GOEs will be undertaken by both the Budget Office of the Federation and the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation.”
The minister stated that the Finance Bill 2020, which will accompany the 2021 budget proposal, would contain measures to advance the SRGI.
“We shall also, work closely with the National Assembly to amend relevant laws that need to be amended to help with the SRGI,” he added.
Agba said the Nigerian economy faced serious challenges in the first half of 2020, with the macroeconomic environment disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Crude oil prices declined sharply in the world market, with Bonny Light crude oil price dropping from a peak of $72.2 per barrel on January 7, 2020, to below $20 per barrel in April 2020,” he said.