States Boycott FAAC Meeting, Query Revenue Figures

The 36 states in Nigeria yesterday boycotted the monthly Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting due to discrepancies in figures presented by the federal government.

The Chairman, Forum of Finance Commissioners in Nigeria, Mr. Mahmoud Yunusa, said the forum came to the decision after consultation with their state governors.

According to him, the governors have given the commissioners directive to postpone the meeting pending the reconciliation of all accounts.

“The meeting has been postponed until we reconcile the figures in the accounts.

“I sincerely apologise for keeping everyone, but this is the position of our principals through the Chairman, Nigeria Governors’ Forum, even though the matter was discussed at length during NEC when all the governors were present.

“So we should all take our leave and wait for the next date which will be announced later,” he said.

Yunusa said the finance commissioners as well as the state Accountants-General would meet next week to decide when to reconvene the meeting.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) later approached the Chairman, who is also the Adamawa State Commissioner for Finance.

He refused to expatiate on the nature of the discrepancies.

However, another commissioner, on condition of anonymity said the discrepancies came from the figures presented by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

The latest development is coming four months after the NNPC completed the refund of N450 billion to the federation account, to be shared to federal, states and local councils.

The NNPC had for 67 consecutive months, paid an additional N6.33 billion into the federation account to be shared to federal, states and local governments.

The payment, which started in September 2011, was due to an audit, which showed that the NNPC had been under remitting revenue into the Federation Account.