FAAC: Fed, State and LG share N388bn for April

The Minister of State for Finance, Mr Bashir Yuguda, on Friday, said N388 billion was shared among the federal, states and local governments as revenue for April 2015.

Yuguda announced this in Abuja when he addressed newsmen on the outcome of the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting.

He said that the shared amount comprised the month’s statutory revenue of N282 billion and N6.3 billion refunded by Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). “Also, there is the exchange gain of N24.7 billion which is proposed for distribution, therefore, the total revenue distributable for the month of April, including VAT of N75.1 billion, is N388 billion.” The amount shared for the month was N47 billion less than what was shared in the preceding month. Giving the breakdown of revenue among the three tiers of government, Yuguda said the Federal Government received N132.1 billion, representing 52.68 per cent; states, N67 billion, representing 26.72 per cent.

The local governments, he said, received N51.6 billion, amounting to 20.60 per cent of the amount distributed. He announced that N23.1 billion representing 13 per cent derivation revenue was shared among the oil producing states.

On VAT, he said that the gross revenue collected for the month increased by N3.9 billion from the N71.1 billion recorded in February. Yuguda said N180.4 billion was generated as mineral revenue in April as against the N228.5 billion generated in the preceding month. According to him, this shows a decrease of N48.1 billion between the two months. He said that the non-mineral revenue for April was N101.5 billion, which when compared to the N86.4 billion generated in March, showed an increase of N15 billion. The minister said the revenue generation for the month was low, explaining certain reasons for it. He added that “the continued shut down and shut in of trucks and pipelines at various terminals continued to impact negatively on crude oil revenue. “However, an increase in the average price of crude oil from 55.3 U.S. dollars in February to 56 U.S. dollars in March brought about 21.6 million U.S. dollars gain in revenue. “Also, non oil revenue performed better in April than in March 2015.”

The Chairman, Finance Commissioners Forum, Mr Timothy Odah, expressed concern over the low revenue generated for the month. He said “the country is facing serious financial and economic crisis. “The Excess Crude Account is depleted already, and you are aware that we had earlier resolved that there should be a stop on the use of ECA to augment what the three tiers of government share monthly. “So, the ECA is currently depleted and it has gone beyond the level that we can get anything reasonable from it.” Odah criticised states that were owing salaries, saying the governors of those states should have made the payment of salaries their top priority after collecting their monthly statutory allocation.

NAN reports that this is the last FAAC meeting which revenue will be shared under President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.

Nigerian interbank rates rise on energy firm's NNPC cash recall

Nigeria's interbank lending rates rose to 14.25 percent on average on Friday from 9.25 percent last week, after state-owned energy company NNPC recalled some of its deposits from banks.

NNPC sells dollars to some lenders on a monthly basis and transfers a portion of the naira proceeds to its account with the central bank, leading to a rate spike.

Banks had a balance of 214 billion naira at the central bank by Friday compared with 494 billion naira last week.

In addition, cash outflows to bonds and Treasury bills purchases totalling 202 billion naira ($1 billion) negatively impacted the liquidity level in the system and caused rates to rise, traders said.

Nigeria sold bonds worth a total of 60 billion naira ($302 million) at lower yields on all tenors at an auction on Wednesday.

The secured Open Buy Back rose to 14 percent from 9 percent, higher than the central bank's 13 percent benchmark rate.
The overnight placement rose to 14.5 percent compared with 9.5 percent last week.

The liquidity level is expected to rise after the government injects money into the banking system to fund its transactions.

Okonjo-Iweala orders termination of Sure-P partnership with Forcecom Networks

The Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has ordered the immediate discontinuation of the partnership between the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme and Forcecom Networks Limited on the Graduate Internship Scheme.

The Minister’s order was conveyed in a statement issued to journalists in Abuja on Thursday by the Communication Specialist to SURE-P, Mr. Suleiman Haruna, adding that the minister also directed that the security agencies investigate the firm.

According to the minister, the firm should be investigated for deploying interns to work on mobile money business months after they were deployed to the company. She also accused the firm of presenting time sheets to show that the interns worked and requested for the payment of their monthly stipends when they did not work.

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Power outage worsens as electricity generation drops by 1,800MW

The widespread power blackouts suffered by Nigerians is about to worsen in the coming weeks as the Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Power, Ambassador Godknows Igali, has disclosed of a drop in power generation from 4,500MW to 2700MW within the last five weeks.

While revealing this to Senate Correspondents yesterday shortly after briefing the Senate Committee on Power, Steel Development and Metallurgy, Igali informed that gas and crude oil pipeline vandals were responsible for the drastic drop in power generation.

He blamed the drop in power generation to the increased rate of vandalism perpetrated daily by vandals on both oil and gas pipelines across the country since last month.

Trade Minister says Nigeria's economy still Investors' haven as growth slows to 3.96 pct in Q1 2015

Nigeria's Minster of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Olusegun Aganga, says the country’s economy remains the favourite for foreign and local investors.

The Minister's remarks follows the latest reports released by the National Bureau of statistics indicating that Nigeria's economy grew by 3.96 percent in the first quarter of 2015, showing a sharp slowdown from the same period last year due to the fall in oil prices. 

Aganga, while speaking with newsmen in Abuja, said the country will remain investors' haven following the friendly economic policies of the President Goodluck Jonathan's led administration.

The Minister added that whatever the nation is currently going through, will not deter the interest of foreign direct investment into country.  

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Oil Marketers Demand Payment Of Outstanding 200bn Naira

There seems to be no end in sight to the fuel scarcity crisis triggered by the demand by oil marketers for the payment of subsidy funds, with the marketers demanding for the payment of 200 billion Naira the government still owes them.

An official of the Oil Marketers’ union in Nigeria told Channels Television on Friday that the union was only ‘demanding that the money marketers are owed should be paid’.

The Executive Secretary of the Major Oil Marketers Association, Mr Obafemi Olawoore, said three jetties controlled by the union in Apapa, Lagos State, were discharging fuel, but stressed that lack of fund had affected the importation of petroleum products.

There are three discharging points. The third is a vessel belonging to the Pipelines And Product Marketing Company, a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

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Nigeria Oil Marketers Say Government Owes $1 Billion

Nigeria’s government owes the nation’s oil marketers, importers and storage companies more than 200 billion naira ($1 billion) in subsidy payments, according to an industry body.

The members of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, which include Total SA, Oando Plc, Forte Oil Plc and Exxon Mobil Corp.’s local unit, are owed about 40 percent of that amount as of the end of March, with more costs incurred since then, Thomas Olawore, the body’s executive secretary, said on Tuesday.

 A “recent meeting” with Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala “was not conclusive,” Olawore said in an interview in the commercial capital, Lagos. “Something must be done” about the outstanding amount following the government’s payment of 154 billion naira last month, he said.

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Source: Bloomberg