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Tag: States

  • Federal, states, local govts share N701b

    The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) yesterday shared N701.022 billion to  the three tiers of government as federal allocation for May, 2018.

    The figure was described as “an improvement from N626.8 billion shared in April” by the Permanent Secretary Federal Ministry of Finance, Dr Mahmoud Isa Dutse .

    While addressing reporters at the end of the FAAC meeting in Abuja yesterday,  Dr Dutse said the Federal Government got N289.045 billion, states got N181.963 billion, while the Local Government Areas received NN137.327 billion. The 13 per cent mineral revenue for oil producing states stood at N49.756, while the cost of revenue collection and Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) refund N42.932 billion.

    Dutse also disclosed that the Excess Crude Account (ECA) balance now stands at $1.911 billion after N24.5 billion savings was added to it. Itvwould be recalled that the Federal Government had withdrawn about $1billion from the account to purchase aircraft to tackle insurgency in the country.

    Also, an additional N11.269 billion was received from NNPC after April FAAC and it was distributed accordingly. “We are having discussion with the NNPC to reconcile figures and will be resolved soon,” he said.

    From the breakdown of the Net Statutory revenue; the Federal Government received N276.535 billion representing 52.68 per cent; states received N140.262billion representing 26.72 per cent; Local Government Areas received N108.136billion representing 20.60 per cent; while the Oil Producing States received N49.756billion also representing 13 per cent derivation revenue.

    Furthermore, from the available revenue from Value Added Tax (VAT), Federal Government received N12.510billion representing 15 per cent; states received N41.701billion representing 50 per cent while the Local Government Areas received N29.190 billion also representing 35per cent.

    The Technical sub -Committee of FAAC at the end of the meeting indicated that the gross statutory revenue received for the month was higher than the N480.599billion received in the previous month by N132.458 billion. Crude oil export sales volume increased by 64 per cent when compared with the 7.72million barrels from the previous month, resulting in increased revenue from Federation Crude Oil Export Sales by $226.90million.

  • ‘Fed Govt, states, local govts share N1.9tr’

    The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) disbursed N1.938 trillion in the first quarter (Q1) of this year.

    The cash shared represented an increase of 37.3 per cent when compared with N1.411 trillion shared during the same period last year and 71.1per cent of the N1.132 trillion shared in the same quarter of 2016, the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), has said.

    A breakdown of the FAAC allocations showed that the Federal Government received N812.8 billion; the 36 states got N683.4 billion, while N393.3billion went to the 774 Local Governments Areas. A further breakdown showed that N655.2 billion was disbursed by FAAC in January, N635.6 billion in February, and N647.4 billion in March this year.

    A statement endorsed by NEITI’s Director of Communications and Advocacy, Dr. Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, explained that the information was contained in the latest edition of the NEITI Quarterly Review by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI).

    He said the publication observed that even with increasing trends in the revenue disbursements to the three tiers of government, the disbursement in the Q1 of this year was still 25.6per cent lower than the N2.6 trillion disbursed during the same period in 2013 before the crash in global oil prices.

    According to him, the report projected brighter prospects for higher revenue disbursements for the rest of the year because of rising oil prices, which he noted currently hovered around $70 per barrel, in addition to the increase in oil production.

    The report however called for caution while celebrating the cash disbursed in Q1 2018 because of the volatility of the international oil market. “The year started on a bright note as all tiers of government received higher revenues than corresponding quarters in the past two years. This was largely on the account of sustained increase in domestic oil production and global oil prices,” the statement added.

    On allocations received by each state, the report revealed that Akwa Ibom got the highest with N50.44 billion while Osun State received the lowest net share of N4.99 billion, a change of 920per cent between the highest and the lowest the statement added.

    The  report explained that the disparities in FAAC disbursements suggested differences in revenue capacities of different states and the implications for expenditure decisions in the affected states.

    According to the statement, there were concerns about the relationship between the projected revenues of states and their proposed budgets. “The budget of all the states completely outstriped their projected total revenues,” the report stated. For instance, the publication observed that the gap between projected total revenues and budgets is small in some states like Kano, Enugu, Delta and Bayelsa. In these states, projected revenue is at least 60percent of the budgets.

    However, in about 18 states, projected revenue was less than 40 per cent of budgets. Examples are in the 2018 budgets of Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Cross River and Ebonyi states, the statement added. Other states were Imo, Katsina, Kebbi, Kwara, Ogun, Osun, Oyo, Plateau, Sokoto and Zamfara).The report described the situation in Cross River State as chronic as its projected total revenue only constituted  four per cent of the proposed budget it stated.

     

     

    “These conditions would ultimately result in a situation where the states would either not be able to execute their budgets or have to increase borrowing,” the report noted.

    Ogbonnaya said the NEITI Quarterly Review, designed to provide timely information and data, was a tool to support citizens’ engagement, advocacy, promote constructive debate, information sharing and enlightenment in tracking the utilisation of the funds for purposes of development.

    He added that NEITI’s interest in FAAC disbursements and the statutory recipients is in view of the fact that more than 50per cent of the funds were derived from the extractive industry.

  • JOHESU directs members at states, councils to join strike

    THE Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU) has directed its members in the states and local government areas to join the ongoing strike.

    It followed the inability of the Federal Government to meet the union’s demands, according to JOHESU National Chairman Josiah Joy Biobelemoye.

    Health workers at Federal health institutions have been on strike in the last 22 days.

    Biobelemoye,  who addressed reporters yesterday, said the government has not shown enough commitment.

    “Since the government has not shown enough commitment to the path of honour and meet our demands, especially, the core demand for the upward adjustment of CONHESS Salary Structure as agreed in the Memorandum of Terms of Settlement signed on September 30, 2017 with JOHESU, we are left with no other option than to direct members in states and local governments to commence and join the strike action nationwide from midnight of today, Wednesday, May 9, 2018.”

    He, however, said the union has temporarily put on hold other activities like street protest, rallies and joint zonal picketing.

    He, therefore, appealed to the  “Nigerians to bear with JOHESU for the withdrawal of our services, which can be attributed to the insincerity of government, particularly, the Federal Ministry of Health and its leadership, who behaves like a Federal Ministry of Doctors.

  • New minimum wage: States must pay, says Labour

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has warned states and the Organised Private Sector against coming up with excuses on implementation of the new national minimum wage currently being negotiated for Nigerian workers.

    The Congress said the minimum wage was implementable, asking state government to cut down on its numerous expenses and extravagant spending.

    Its President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, who spoke at a public hearing on the new national minimum wage organised for the north central zone in Lokoja, said implementation of whatever is arrived at by the committee is implementable if state governments cut down on their excesses and large number of political appointees.

    He spoke on the heels of the shunning of the hearing by state governments within the zone and the Organised Private Sector led by the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association.

    Our correspondent observed the employers’ body was conspicuously missing at the Abuja and Lokoja public hearings while Benue, Kwara and Niger states were also not represented at the event organised by the Tripartite Committee on the new national minimum wage to collect from Nigerians into the work of the committee.

    It was not immediately clear if the states and employers’ body had submitted any written submission to the committee for consideration.

    While Kogi pledged to abide by outcomes of the committee recommendations, Plateau state said there has to be a corresponding increase in internally generated revenue and allocation from the federation account for the state to implement the new wages that will be recommended.

    Wabba, who is a member of the committee, said it was unfortunate that some of those who are supposed to make their input into the work of the committee through the public hearing chose to stay away, adding they should not turn round later to complain of not being carried along.

    He said further that states and employers of Labour have always complained of inability to pay new wages, adding that the problem of the country was not lack of resources but ability to manage available resources.

    He pointed out states like Jigawa, which did not access the bailout fund, have been able to pay salaries as and when due as well as made one of the highest proposals on the new minimum wage to the committee.

     

  • States battle over oil blocks

    A battle for the ownership of three oil blocks may lead to a breakdown of law and order in Enugu, Anambra and Kogi states, a senator claimed yesterday.

    Senator Chukwuka Utazi (Enugu North) urged  the Senate to intervene  to prevent possible  loss of lives and property in the fight over the ownership of OPL 915, 916 and 917, being contested by the three states.

    The Enugu North lawmaker said matters came to a head a few days ago when one Mike Emuh who claimed to be chairman, oil bearing host communities told a gathering of Anambra traditional rulers that the state had been designated oil producing state in exclusion of Enugu and Kogi States.

    He said stakeholders in Enugu and Kogi States were embarrassed about the claim especially when senators from the three states were working assiduously to make raise the status of the states to oil bearing.

    He said they also agreed that the 13 per cent derivation should be shared by the three states based on what each had pending the report the National Boundary Commission working on the delineation of the area.

    Utazi said that the area bearing the oil blocks was contiguous with people from the three states working together.

    He said Emuh’s announcement created problem in the area leading to people carrying arms against one another.

    Utazi said, “The oil has been there. It was during President Goodluck Jonathan the issue came up. People did not bid for the oil because it was landlocked. But some business men from Anambra State agreed to build a refinery there. Jonathan on Enugu soil on August 30, 2012 declared Anambra oil producing state.”

    He said the pronouncement of Jonathan led to massive protest which forced the president to invite the three state governors for discussion on how to address the issue.

    Utazi said after explanation by the governors, Jonathan withdrew his recognition and directed the National Boundary Commission to look into the matter and determine who owns what.

    He said that Anambra people have not allowed the commission to do its job.

    He said that the military stationed its personnel there to keep the peace.

    Utazi said the decided to alert the Senate due to serious signs of likely mayhem in the area.

    He added that it was equally necessary to tell the Senate that Emuh was not the Minister of Petroleum to announce the recognition of Anambra as oil bearing state.

    Utazi said Senator Andy Ubah (Anambra south) who accused him of misleading the Senate “jumped into an issue he does not know anything about.”

    He also described Senator Dino Melaye (Kogi West) who dismissed his position on the oil blocks as “a meddlesome interloper who should be ignored.” He said Melaye provided “a comical relief” on the issue.

  • VAIDS: FG reviews pleas for extension of deadline

    The federal government may bow to pressure as it has started reviewing the requests by the States and private sector for an extension of the tax amnesty programme, the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS).

    Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, on yesterday confirmed that the Federal Government was currently reviewing the requests by the States and private sector for an extension of the tax amnesty programme, VAIDS.

    The tax amnesty programme, which expired midnight on yesterday, offered a nine-month window of opportunity for tax payers to regularise their tax liabilities.

    A statement by Oluyinka Akintunde Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to the Minister of Finance said “Adeosun, who responded to media enquiries in Abuja, said some States of the Federation and the private sector had asked for an extension of the deadline in order to allow them more time to comply.”

    She said, “the federal government is reviewing the numerous extension requests by the States and the private sector, which have cited some logistic challenges such as non-availability of the declaration forms in some states and the declaration of public holidays to commemorate Easter.”

    The finance minister was quoted to have said that “the tax evaders risk forfeiting their assets and prosecution as the government’s data mining Unit in the Federal Ministry of Finance, Project Lighthouse, had compiled data of tax payers from land registries from 36 States and Federal Capital Territory as well as their bank accounts.”

    According to Adeosun, “we have also received tremendous support from foreign countries which provided data under the exchange of information protocols. The data include bank records and financial filings for tax purposes.”

    The Project Lighthouse has identified the common violations by non-compliant tax payers to include: Under-declaration of and non-declaration of income earned including income from Government contracts and overseas trading; Collection of Value Added Tax (VAT) which is not duly remitted to the FIRS; charging of non-allowable personal expenses to company accounts particularly with reference to overseas school fees; and Inconsistency between income declared for tax purposes and the value of assets owned.

  • States to get refund on roads

    STATES are to get the cash they spent on federal roads, it was learnt yesterday.

    President Muhammadu Buhari dropped the hint during his visit to Zamfara State after Governor AbdulAziz Yari’s request for the refund of the N56 billion being owed the state on federal road projects it executed.

    The President said he had directed Power, Works & Housing Minister Babatunde Fashola to compile all outstanding payments of refunds to the states that implemented federal projects to specifications.

    He expressed the hope that the refund would go a long way in addressing the security problems facing Zamfara state.

    Yari, who doubles as the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), called for additional deployment of security personnel to the state to check incessant cases of armed banditry across 13 out of the 14 local government areas of the state.

    In a presentation, the Secretary to the Zamfara State Government (SSG), Prof. Abdullahi Mohammed, gave an overview of the security challenges in the state in the last eight years, resulting in loss of lives and property.

    According to him, the state has been witnessing three types of security crisis, namely cattle rustling, kidnapping for ransom and reprisals attacks.

    The SSG explained that Zamfara State had identified eight major flashpoints and made a passionate appeal to the Federal Government to deploy more security in the state.

    House of Assembly speaker Sanusi Garba said a fact-finding committee inaugurated last year had enumerated the number of causalities recorded as a result of the activities of bandits in the state.

    Zamfara has witnessed cases of attacks by armed bandits with hundreds of innocent people killed and property worth billions of naira carted away or destroyed.

    The recent attack by bandits at Birane village in Zurmi Local Government area of the state left over 50 people dead.

    President directed security agencies to improve their strategies of intelligence gathering, surveillance and accuracy in deployments, and ensure that criminal activities were brought to an end across the country.

    Speaking during an interactive meeting with political leaders, traditional rulers, elders and victims of criminal attacks in Zamfara State, President Buhari assured all security agencies of improved conditions that will facilitate apprehending criminals that steal, maim and kill innocent Nigerians.

    He said: “As far as I am concerned, our security agencies have recorded some successes, but they need to do much more.

    “They are not to oppress anyone, but they have to gather and send intelligence and warnings when something is about to happen.’’

    The President commended the security agencies for eliminating a dreadful criminal, “Buhari general”, who had for many years initiated killings and destruction of properties.

    Before “Buharin-daji”, who calls himself a general, there was a criminal who killed many people and he was killed; “Buharin–daji’’ has followed him and others like them should also follow,’’ he added.

     

     

    The President said the threats to lives and properties will be significantly reduced with improved relations among community leaders, citizens and the security agencies.

    He said: “I have come here to commiserate with you over loss of lives and properties. We will continue to do our best to improve the security situation. However, those committing atrocities live with you.

    “Some of these people are not reported because you don’t trust the security outfits, instead you report back to the criminals. We should give priority to security,’’ he said.

    The President warned that the ongoing war against corruption would be reinvigorated and sustained until public officers, who abused their positions, faced the wrath of the law.

    He told the elders and traditional rulers that properties that had been confiscated by security outfits from some suspected corrupt public officials will be sold out, after the completion of court procedures.

    Buhari urged Nigerians to take advantage of the ongoing reforms in the agricultural sector, pointing that the era of depending on petrol will one day come to an end.

    On herdsmen attacks, the President said there was a need to revisit and review the old grazing area arrangements that guaranteed harmonious relationship between farmers and herdsmen, where differences were amicably resolved through the law without violence.

    Governor Yari said the state government had deployed resources that were initially designated for development into fighting criminal activities.

    The governor, who commended the security outfits for working hard to protect the state, pleaded with the Federal Government to improve the funding of operations, increase the number of security men working in the state and reimburse the state for monies spent on some Federal Government projects like roads, which he said was a major priority in fighting  criminals.

    Listing the eight major flashpoints, the SSG that 1,321 lives had been lost since 2011, while 1,881 people sustained various injuries from attacks, with about N14 billion spent on fighting the menace.

    The traditional rulers, elders and leaders of the affected communities also pleaded with the government to ensure immediate security intervention in order to save lives.

    The President in company of his aides, landed at the Gusau helipad at about 10.40a.m after taking off from Umaru Musa Yar’Adua international airport in Katsina.

    Governors Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto) and Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi) some ministers, traditional and religious leaders, top government officials were among those that received the president.

    President Buhari reviewed a parade mounted by the Army and Air Force.

  • States ‘shared N1.9tr Paris Club refund’

    States have shared N1.9trillion Paris Club Refund and Budget Support Facilities to enable them meet their obligations to workers, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said yesterday.

    According to him, at the inception of the Buhari administration in 2015, 26 of the 36 states were not up to date in their wage obligation to workers.

    “ The Budget Support Facility to states has gone a long way in cushioning the shock experienced by the federating units which resulted from the sharp drop in prices of crude oil in 2016.

    “So our support to states has remained unprecedented in the history of administration in Nigeria,” he said.

    Osinbajo spoke in Abeokuta at the fourth edition of the Ogun Investors’ Forum, which ends today.

    The theme of the programme, which is  ”Consolidating Gains and Accelerating Growth.’’

    Osinbajo said that the Muhammadu Buhari -led administration had continued to extend equal and unbiased support to states, regardless of   party affiliations.

    “ We have been sensitive, attentive and responsive to their needs while our programmes and policies have been developed with the states in mind.

    “ The Anchor Borrowers Programme has continued to provide cheap credit to small holders farmers across the nation.

    “The President’s Fertiliser Initiative has ensured that farmers across Nigeria have direct access to fertiliser.

    “We have continued to feed about seven million primary school pupils in 21 states of the country,” Osinbajo said.

    He explained  that the administration had been able to reverse the trend of   corruption that existed in the country when it assumed power in 2015.

    He added that the government also reversed the underfunding of infrastructure with N1.3 trillion allocated to capital projects  in 2017 –   the  highest in the country’s  history.

    “ We have continued to block leakages and increased  funding of core sectors, like agriculture and transportation by  as much as 400 per cent.

    “External reserves are in highest level in five years while inflation rate has dropped for 13 consecutive months.

    “We have done all these and more in spite of the fact that we now earn 60 per cent less than Nigeria earned in 2014 and thereby show that we can achieve more with less revenue, with prudence and sincerity of purpose,” he said.

    The Vice President suggested a sub-regional economic summit among Ogun, Lagos and Benin Republic towards leveraging on the economy of proximity of both Lagos and Benin Republic to the state.

    He added:  ”We have launched and implemented a comprehensive economic recovery and growth plan. We pursued peace in the Niger Delta, we focused on improving our business environment, we scaled up our investment in agriculture and infrastructure and aggressively worked at expanding Nigeria revenue base.

    ”Perhaps most importantly, we have reversed the grand corruption in public finance and impunity which attended the conduct of public business especially in the past five years.

    ”The main reason for Nigeria’s growth is not just a matter of our relying heavily on a single commodity; it is the fact that proceeds of that single commodity were regularly hijacked consistently by a few.

    ”In the so-called strategic contract with NPDC, the promoters of those companies made away with about $3billion, almost a tenth of our reserves at a point.

    ”At the moment, we are in the course of getting the $3 billion to build roads; the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano road, the second Niger bridge, the Enugu-Port Hacourt road, the East West road, the Sagamu-Benin-Ore road, the Kano Maiduguri road, the Abuja-Lafia road, the Akwanga-Keffi road plus the Lagos-Abeokuta road.

    ”It is important for us to understand that our country’s problems must be analyzed on the perspective of what our real issues are. We can’t talk about the Nigeria economy without the plight that was caused years ago by people simply stealing the resources of this country.

    ”In one single transaction, the sum of N100 billion and $289 million in cash were released three weeks to the 2015 elections. That money was essentially embezzled.

    ”When you consider that in 2014 when the price of oil was at an average of $110 a barrel, only N99 billion was spent on power, works and housing; agriculture and transportation got 14 and 15 billion Naira respectively.

    ”So,  the total spent on capital in 2014 on those areas have mentioned was just N153 and over N150 billion was released and shared in three days, this is the enormity of what we are talking about.

    “There’s no country in the world that can survive on grand corruption and that is what we are talking about and that is why it is important for the Federal Government under President Muhammad Buhari to reverse that grand corruption,” he said.

    Ministers of Finance Kemi Adeosun and Agricultural and Rural Development Audu Ogbeh said Nigeria had the capacity to grow its GDP at 7 per cent by being focused.

    Ogbeh, who rued the 9% interest rate being charged farmers by the Central Bank of Nigeria as being prohibitive, said 5-7% would be more reasonable.

    Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun said his administration was poised to bequeathing a lasting legacy and provide a model of development that is impactful and sustainable for the state.

    Amosun highlighted his achievements in agriculture, infrastructure, security and investment.

    Former Mexican President Felipe Calderon expressed confidence that with rule of law and accountability, Nigeria would navigate out of her economic doldrums.

    Calderon, who delivered the keynote address at the Forum, said  knowledge from research had shown that the economy of nations without rule of law and accountability would only remain stagnant at 0% or be crawling only at 1%.

    The ex- president explained that the economy of a country could grow for as much as 34% with rule of law and accountability, regardless of its geographical location, culture, leadership ability or even the natural resources.

    He cited  Singapore as a nation with no  much national resources but remained one of the best economies in the world because of rule of law and accountability.

    ”It is important to have a country that is rules by law and not by man,” Calderon said.

     

  • Lassa fever death toll hits 72 in 18 States

    Lassa fever death toll hits 72 in 18 States

    Seventy-two people have died of Lassa fever since January 1, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) said yesterday.

    The development is contained in the centre’s situation report on the virus.

    According to the report, dated February 25, 1,081 suspected cases were reported in 18 states.

    The states are: Edo, Ondo, Bauchi, Nasarawa, Ebonyi, Anambra, Benue, Kogi, Imo, Plateau, Lagos, Taraba, Delta, Osun, Rivers, FCT, Gombe and Ekiti.

    Of the suspected cases, 317 are said to be confirmed and 72 deaths were also confirmed, eight of which are probable.

    Edo remains the worst as 43 per cent of all confirmed cases are from the state.

    The World Health Organisation (WHO) said it is the worst outbreak of Lassa fever in Nigeria.

    “Lassa fever has never reached this case count in Nigeria before,” said Wondimagegnehu Alemu, WHO representative to Nigeria.

    “The ability to rapidly detect cases of infection in the community and refer them early for treatment improves patients’ chances of survival and is critical to this response,” alemu said.

    Three weeks ago, Minister of Health Isaac Adewole said the outbreak of the disease had affected 15 states with 31 deaths recorded.

  • 35 states owe workers’ salaries, says TUC

    35 states owe workers’ salaries, says TUC

    The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has raised the alarm that the number of states owing workers’ wages has increased to 35.

    Its President, Bobboi Kaigama, who made this known to reporters after the congress’ National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Lagos, said only Lagos State was up-to-date on salary payment and other benefits.

    It warned state governments against diverting money meant for workers’ salaries and other benefits into electioneering expenditure.

    Kaigama said, with the exception of Lagos, every other state in Nigeria owed one form of benefit or the other, including salaries, despite the Federal Government’s bailout and Paris Club refunds.

    He said: “We want to say without fear of contradiction that the only healthy state in this country that has no arrears of salaries and other wages or unpaid benefits is Lagos State. All the other states have one issue or the other in terms of salaries, wages or benefits of their workers that have not been paid. There is no exception.

    “You will find out that, if it is not one month’s salary that is not paid, it would be 13 months of gratuities or pensions that have not been paid. Or that contributory pension deductions are not being remitted or that there are certain promotion arrears and death benefits that have not been paid. So, I am telling you, taking this issue holistically, we can only say Lagos State is the only healthy state in this country.”

    The TUC leader added: “We keep saying that, if state governors cannot meet their obligations to their workers, they should just resign and leave the stage. We have continued to argue that, apart from the first generation states that were created by the military, there is no state that was created thereafter that did not have its submission that the state had the capacity to pay the wages of the workers in the state and other things. Ours is that probably those who are saying that we should go back to regional government are not misplaced because the trust we have in state government has been eroded. So, if it is just for the purposes of payment of salaries, no other developmental issues like infrastructure, health facilities, roads, rails transportation and so on, we are better off with regional government.

    On the ability of states owing the existing N18,000 minimum wage to pay a new minimum wage expected to be higher than the present one, Kaigama said it was corruption that made governors to owe workers.