…To parley with NNPC GMD over low revenue

Uche Usim, Abuja

The Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, yesterday intervened to resolve a deadlock at the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting following the rejection of a lean N74 billion revenue presented for sharing among the three tiers of government by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

Consequently, the Minister who is also Chairman of the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), has reconvened the meeting of the Committee for 9 am today.

The meeting, which will hold at the auditorium of the Federal Ministry of Finance, will have in attendance the Accountant General of the Federation, Mr. Ahmed Idris; Commissioners of Finance and Accountants General of the 36 states and representatives of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), among others.

A statement by the Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to the Minister of Finance, Mr. Oluyinka Akintunde, said Minister has also called for an emergency meeting next week with the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mr. Maikanti Baru, and key management over low revenue payment into the Federation Account.

The FAAC meeting was inconclusive yesterday, necessitating her intervention.

Earlier yesterday, Commissioners of Finance from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) had rejected the February revenue figure of N74,067,185,439 presented by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), leading to inconclusive deliberations.

Related News

At the February FAAC meeting, the NNPC presented a total of N111,835,458,519 as its January revenue leaving the state Commissioners present at yestrday meeting wondering why the revenue crashed to N74 billion (with a differential of N37,769,273,081), despite a rise in global oil prices and zero record of pipeline vandalism within the period in March.

Speaking at a press conference in Abuja, the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Ahmed Idris, said the FAAC allocation will be shared after another meeting is convened and reconciliation done.

This means that salaries for March will be delayed as states will only get their allocation after all grey areas are ironed out.

Idris said: “Let me be quick to tell you that the meeting was inconclusive because issues around reconciliation of figures are on the table. Obviously, you are all aware that anything that has to do with federation revenue is statutory and therefore constitutional. And we must always verify our figures to the last kobo, failing which we will be committing illegality and unconstitutionality.

“It is on that note that we observed some issues in the figures given by one of the major revenue generating agencies namely, the NNPC, and the committee is of the opinion that until and unless these figures are reconciled, corrected, verified and factual, we cannot distribute the revenue as the case is.

“Let me again inform Nigerians that we are sensitive with the issue and we are very sensitive to the fact that the state governments as represented by Commissioners of Finance are sensitive to issues but again, we have to follow the constitution and the necessary laws for distribution of revenue and it is on this note that I inform you that the meeting has not been concluded.

“We have to explain this to Nigerians bearing in mind that as civil servants, workers in the federal, states and local governments deserve to have their salaries and all other commitments of government,” Idris explained.