Two agencies of the Federal Government, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) have issued conflicting figures on the revenue allocation to the three tiers of government in November 2023.
FAAC in a communiqué issued at the end of a meeting held in Abuja on December 15, 2023, said the federal, state and 774 local government areas shared N1.088 trillion in November 2023, the NBS in a report released on January 12, 2024, revealed that the three tiers of government went home with N1.35 trillion during the period.
This was N262 billion lower than the figure presented by FAAC.
FAAC said in the communiqué that the N1.088 trillion distributable revenue comprised a distributable statutory revenue of N376.306 billion, distributable Value Added Tax revenue of N335.656 billion, Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL) revenue of N11.952 billion, and Exchange Difference revenue of N364.869 billion.
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Analysis of the figures unearthed further discrepancies in the breakdown of the earnings for the month in review.
While FAAC figures put VAT-generated revenues at N335.656 billion, NBS said ₦347.34 billion was generated as VAT for the period.
NBS added that ₦16.2 billion was generated from the Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL) while FAAC put the revenue generated from EMTL at N11.952 billion, a difference of N4.3 billion.
This glaring discrepancy brings to question the veracity of data released by agencies of government saddled with the responsibility of providing Nigerians with verifiable and accurate data.
FAAC disburses revenues generated into the Federations Accounts which comprise multiple accounts specific to a Revenue Generating Agency RGA or a sector/ business type. At the same time, the NBS is expected to coordinate Statistical Operations of the National Statistical System in the production of Official Statistics in all the Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), State Statistical Agencies (SSAs), and Local Government Councils (LGCs).