A new report by the Economic Confidential has shown that the federal government, 36 states and the 774 local government councils in Nigeria shared a total sum of N5.9 trillion from the Federation Account in 2017 in spite of the economic recession witnessed during the period.
While the federal government and its agencies received a total sum of NN2.5 trillion, the other tiers of government shared N3.3 trillion.
The total allocation of N3.3 trillion to states and their local government councils is N700 billion above the N2.6 trillion they received in the previous year of 2016.
In its annual detailed investigative report with a table of figures, the Economic Confidential disclosed that among the state recipients, Lagos was ranked first as the highest recipient of gross allocation with a total sum of N201bn in the twelve months of 2017. It is followed by Akwa Ibom State N197billion, Rivers N178 billion, Delta State N175 billion and Kano State N143 billion. The five states cornered over a quarter of the total allocation to the states and local government councils in Nigeria.
Other top 10 highest recipients from the Federation Account included Bayelsa State which got N138 billion, followed by Katsina State – N103 billion, Oyo State – N101 billion, Kaduna State – N98 billion and Borno State – N92 billion.
The lowest recipients were Gombe and Ebonyi States which got N57 billion each, followed by Ekiti and Nasarawa States – N59 billion each and Kwara – N61 billion.
The report further disclosed that Edo and Ondo which are oil-producing states got N75 billion and N85 billion respectively while another state in the South-South, Cross River State merely received N68 billion.
The Economic Confidential gathered that factors that influence allocations to states and local government councils from the Federation Account include: Population, derivation, landmass, terrain, revenue effort, school enrolment, health facilities, water supply and equality of the beneficiaries
– Source: THISDAY, February 5, 2018
