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The three tiers of government on Tuesday night in Abuja shared the total sum of N442.606 billion for the month of August, representing N69.193 billion or 13.51 per cent drop from the N511.799 billion distributed for the previous month. This drop is not surprising though, considering the drop in revenue engendered by the base fortune of crude oil, Nigeria's main economic stay, on international market.

Addressing newsmen at the end of the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance, Anatasia Nwaobia, revealed that a total of N442.606 billion was shared among the three tiers of government, namely the federal, state and local governments. Since many of the state governors have not conducted elections in their local governments, the bulk of the local government allocations would automatically end up in the state purse.

She said the distributable statutory revenue for the month was N369.140 billion. Also distributed was the sum of N6.330 billion refunded by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, (NNPC), and N4.960 billion as exchange gain generated in the month under review.

Nwaobia, however said there was no augmentation within the period, but that a total of N62.176 billion from Value Added Tax (VAT) was distributed for the month, bringing the total distributable sum for the month N442.606 billion. This amount represents one of the lowest ever re order by the country in recent times since the oil boom.

A breakdown of the figure, she continued, showed that gross revenue of N369.140 billion was received for the month, which was lower than the N433.584 billion of the previous month by N64.444 billion. The drop was due partly to the drastic fall in crude oil export, owing to shut-in of production for maintenance at different times and terminals during the month of July. Also, there was revenue loss of $8.65 million, following the drop in average price of crude oil from $61.27 in June to $56.76 in July, 2015.

A breakdown of the distribution showed that the Federal Government got N168.623 billion or 52.68 per cent, as against N202.111 billion for July, while the 36 state governments shared a total of N85.528 billion (26.72 per cent), down from N102.513 billion received for the previous month. The local governments shared N27.870 billion (20.60 per cent) against N28.209 billion received for July. The oil producing states shared the sum of N27.870 billion as 13 per cent derivation revenue for the month of August as against N28.209 billion collected for July, 2015,” she added.

Commenting on the level of compliance by Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government on Treasury Single Account Policy (TSA), the Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, disclosed that 600 or two-third of the 900 MDAs have so far complied with the Presidential directive that they move all their accounts to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Experts are of the opinion the best way to revive Nigeria's economy is via proactive diversification of the economy. Nigeria has arable lands and economic experts are of the opinion that best way to stabilise the country economically is via agriculture.