Nigeria has recorded a drop in revenue of about N177.62 billion following the crash in oil prices at the international market, according to the Technical sub-committee of the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FACC).
The loss is said to have been caused by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) withholding its revenue from the Federation Account.
Revenue collection by the NNPC is estimated to account for about 90 per cent of the total revenue accruing into the Federation Account every month, which is distributed amongst the three tiers of government.
The revenue agencies including the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) were said to have remitted their November revenue collections into the Federation Account before last Thursday but the same could not be said of the NNPC, which was said to withholding its collections.
The NNPC was said to have held up the FAAC meeting as revenues from both domestic and foreign sale of crude oil in November in its care were not paid into the Federation Account at the Cental Bank of Nigeria.
The revenue that accrued to the Federation Account from oil, slumped from N530.86 billion in October to N353.34 billion last November.
As at last Thursday, the price of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) stood at $40.12 per barrel, indicating that there is also likely to be a shortfall in Nigeria’s revenue by the end of this month.
According to the State Minister of Finance, Mr. Remi Babalola, the revenue sharing may have been jeopardized by NNPC, which had initially refused to remit the revenue it generated into the Federation Account.
