Ogona Anita
The Governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed, has revealed that state governments have yet to benefit from the improved revenue generated by the oil sector, as the remittances are not being properly credited to the Federation Account.
The governor, who also serves as the Chairman of the People Democratic Party Governors forum, urged the Federal Government to provide a clear and detailed explanation to the public as to why the revenues that have been collected are not being properly remitted for distribution and sharing among the three tiers of government as stipulated by the law.
The governor disclosed these when the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, paid a courtesy call at the government house ahead of the 2024 Conference for the National Council on Finance and Economic Development ongoing in the state.
He stressed that it should be considered nothing short of a miraculous work that States are yet to benefit under the current minister despite being one of the biggest oil-producing nations.
Recall that the NNPCL is a major revenue-generating agency in Nigeria, operating as the national oil company in charge of the management, sales, etc, of the country’s crude oil and gas, among other key functions.
It remits revenue from crude oil sales to government coffers.
But in recent years, the NNPC remitted literally zero funds to the Federation Account due to the payment of subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit.
Checks by our correspondent showed that the national oil firm didn’t add a single naira to the federation account in 2022.
It said fuel subsidy stopped the revenue-generating firm from remitting taxes and royalties to the Federation Account, as well as halted the company from making a profit.
But the former Chief Financial Officer of NNPCL, Umar Ajiya, in a documentary earlier this year, confirmed that the removal of subsidy had made the company start making remittances into the Federation Account.
“We have now begun to pay dividends to the federation. We are also paying our due obligations in terms of taxes and royalties,” he stated.
The company further stated in the documentary that the end to subsidy enabled it to contribute N4.5tn to the Federation Account in nine months.
“For the first time in a long time, NNPC Ltd in 2023 contributed to the Federation Account, accounting for N4.5tn between January and September 2023,” the national oil company stated.
Additional checks also revealed that NNPC contributed N431.06bn of its accrued revenue to the federation account in the first seven months of 2024.
Stakeholders had expected improved disbursement following the removal of fuel subsidy by the current deregulation of the sector, which increased petrol prices by 490 per cent.
But commenting, the governor complained that it’s yet to see any changes
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