Again, FAAC fails to share allocation as NNPC withholds funds
Again, the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) on Tuesday ended its meeting abruptly as the factors leading to the deadlock in the May distribution of accrued revenue, especially the propriety of remittances from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is yet to be resolved.
The Daily Times gathered that the NNPC did not remit the remaining amount requested by the committee.
The Committee had scheduled the meeting for Tuesday but the meeting was cut short abruptly.
A re- convened FAAC meeting held on Tuesday night at the Auditorium of Federal Ministry of Finance was unsuccessful as parties were unable to reach agreement several hours after members went into closed door session. But the meeting was adjourned abruptly at about 7.40pm without sharing of funds.
An insider who spoke in confidence, said, “States are unable to reach agreement with the NNPC on amount to share. The meeting has been postponed to Thursday (tomorrow)”.
It is instructive to note that none of FAAC members was willing to offer explanation to journalists on reasons for the stalemate. Tuesday’s adjournment was second in two weeks.
Incidentally, the current stalemate started two weeks ago. It was, triggered by a stand off between FAAC and the NNPC with the former alleging shortchanged in funds remittances to federation purse by the latter.
Addressing the media in Abuja on the controversial NNPC remittances to federation account, Chairman, Forum of Finance Commissioners, Mallam Mahmoud Yunusa explained that, ” based on all provable assumption parameters, the NNPC) is to remit N87.6 billion being Petroleum Profit Tax( PTT) and N60billion as Royalty amounting N146 billion to the federation account as against N127 billion paid by NNPC apart from proceeds from domestic crude oil sales.”
Yunusa noted that while the NNPC claimed it spent N3.5 billion on product leakage, pipeline vandalism, the Department of Petroleum Resources ( DPR), an agency supposed to keep such record claimed ignorance of the amount.
He said NNPC remittances to federation account is a recurring issue, stating that the current development provides opportunity to address it holistically.
” It’s better for us to stand down the FAAC with all the pains involved because some states have not paid salaries and it is a good development to trash it once and for all.
“In the past, nobody dares the NNPC but now that we have a transparent government in place, what is happening now is not a disagreement per say but what I can call progressive disagreement “, Yunusa added.
About 14 states governors are said to be unable to pay June salary to their civil servants, following the deadlock in monthly meeting. It was further gathered that few states that paid sourced loans from Deposit Money Banks.
Tuesday’s postponement of the meeting made it the second time FAAC could not agreed on the generated revenue remitted by the NNPC.
