The Federation Account Allocation Committee on Thursday approved the sum of N635.55bn to be shared to the three tires of government from the Federation Account as statutory allocation for the month of January.

The figure was announced by the Accountant-General of the Federation, Idris Ahmed, shortly after the FAAC meeting, which was held at the headquarters of the Ministry of Finance in Abuja.

He said the N635.55bn shared in January was about N20bn lower than the N655.17bn, which the committee allocated to the three tiers of government in December.

Ahmed stated that the amount was shared under statutory allocation where the sum of N538.9bn was distributed to the three tiers of government and Value Added Tax of N96.64bn.

A breakdown of the January allocation showed that after deducting the cost of collection to the revenue generating agencies, the Federal Government got the highest allocation of N263.2bn, while the 36 states shared the sum of N172.87bn.

Similarly, the 774 local government councils got N129.98bn, while the sum of N52.042bn was paid to oil producing states being their 13 per cent share of derivation allocation.

The AGF blamed the drop in allocation to operational challenges.

He said there was a decrease in crude oil export by 0.36 million barrels, adding that this led to a reduction in revenue from export sales into the Federation Account by $113.86m

Ahmed added, “The average price of crude oil increased from $56.83 to $57.71 per barrel during the period.

“Other major issues that impacted negatively on operations were the shut-ins and shutdown of production at various terminals for repairs and the force majeure declared at the Bonny Export Terminal that was still in place during the period under review.

“There were significant increases in oil royalty and VAT. Also, revenue from import duty increased marginally. Petroleum Profit Tax and Companies Income Tax recorded decreases.”

He put the balance in the Excess Crude Account at $2.31bn, while the balance in the Excess Petroleum Profit Tax stood at $133m.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of Commissioners of Finance Forum of FAAC, Alhaji Mahmoud Yunusa, expressed optimism that the allocation for March would be higher.

He said his assurance was based on the calm atmosphere in Niger Delta region and improved crude oil prices.

“We are in progress. By March, we anticipate that the revenue will surge. Things are getting better compared to where we were. By March, we will have a better chunk,” he added.