The Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) has shared a total of N610.368 billion to the three tiers of government.

According to a statement on Wednesday by the Director of Information at the Ministry of Finance, Hassan Dodo, the money was the federal revenue generated in the month of January but shared in February.

The statement quoted the Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, as making the disclosure while briefing reporters at the end of the FAAC meeting held in Abuja.

Mr Idris said the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, was to approve additional N50 billion from the Foreign Exchange Equalisation Account.

He added that the money would be distributed accordingly while the Excess Crude Account (ECA) currently stands at $249 billion.

A communique issued by FAAC revealed that from the N610.368 billion, the Federal Government received N252.412 billion, the states received N170.541billion, while the local governments received N127.923 billion.

The oil-producing states received N41.992 billion as 13 per cent derivation revenue while the revenue generating agencies received N17.5 billion as thecost of revenue collection.

The gross revenue of N505.246 billion was received in the month of January, which is N42.216 billion lower than the N547.462 billion received in the previous month.

The gross revenue from Value Added Tax (VAT) was N104.468 billion as against N100.760 billion distributed in the previous month, resulting in an increase of N3.708 billion.

From the total gross revenue from VAT, the Federal Government received N15.044 billion, the states received N50.145 billion, and the local governments received N35.102 billion while the revenue generating agencies got N1.178 billion.

The communique stated that for the month of January 2019, the federation crude oil sales increased by 2.4 million barrels, resulting in increased federation revenue by $149.94 million despite a drop in the price of crude oil from $81.06 to $75.00 per barrel.

In the month under review, oil royalty, import, and excise duties increased substantially while Companies Income Tax (CIT) and Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT) decreased marginally.

•Sourced from a Channels TV report