Nigeria’s revenue drops as crude export declines

Nigeria’s crude oil export fell by 1.6 million barrels in May, representing a 6.8 per cent decline from data for April export, according to figures obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Owing to this, federally collected gross revenue stood at N733.82 billion in May, which was lower than the provisional monthly budget estimate of N1.107 trillion by 33.7 per cent.

Similarly, it fell below the receipts in the preceding month by 7.7 per cent. The decline in federally-collected revenue (gross) relative to the monthly budget estimate was attributed to the shortfall in receipts from oil revenue during the reviewed period.

“Gross oil receipts, at N410.18 billion or 55.9 per cent of the total revenue, was below both the monthly budget of N640.21 billion by 35.9 per cent and the preceding month’s receipts of N472.38 billion by 13.2 per cent, respectively.

“The decline in oil revenue relative to the provisional monthly budget estimate was attributed to shut-ins and short-downs at some NNPC terminals due to pipeline leakages and maintenance activities,” the CBN report stated.

Also, non-oil revenue, at N323.64 billion or 44.1 per cent of the total revenue, fell below the provisional monthly budget estimate of N466.91 billion by 30.7 per cent. It, however, exceeded the preceding month’s receipt of N322.93 billion by 0.2 per cent. “The lower non-oil revenue relative to the provisional monthly budget was due to the shortfalls in receipts from all the non-oil revenue components, except Customs and Excise Duties.

“Of the total N667.29 billion retained revenue in the Federation Account, the sums of N92.63 billion, N48.76 billion and N24.73 billion were transferred to the VAT Pool Account, the Federal Government Independent revenue and “Others”, respectively, leaving a net balance of N501.18 billion for distribution to the three tiers of government,” it said.

Of the amount, the federal government received N239.65 billion, while the state and local governments received N121.56 billion and N93.71 billion, respectively. The balance of N46.26 billion was shared among the oil producing states as 13 per cent Derivation Fund.

Similarly, from the N92.63 billion transferred to the VAT Pool Account, the federal government received N13.89 billion, while the state and local governments received N46.31 billion and N32.42 billion, respectively.

In addition, N0.81 billion was distributed in the month as exchange gain with the federal, state and local governments receiving N0.39 billion, N0.19 billion and N0.14 billion, respectively, while the 13 per cent Derivation Fund received N0.10 billion.

Overall, total allocation to the three tiers of government in May amounted to N594.62 billion, according to the report.

This, it stated, was below the provisional monthly budget estimate of N923.39 billion by 36.4 per cent and below the preceding month’s allocation of N602.41 billion, by 1.3 per cent.