The recent drop in revenue shared to states from Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) been attributed to criminal activities on oil installations across the country.
The Accountant-General of Abia State, Gabriel Onyendilefu disclosed the problems to newsmen in Umuahia, listing the criminal activities to include the activities of vandals, oil thieves, breakdown of oil installations and shut down of flow stations.
These reasons, he said were adduced by FAAC for the drop, stating that If one compares what states collecting from the federal government between August to December last year and what states have been receiving from January to March, “we have a very serious drop from what we are collecting” from FAC.
The implication, he said is that the activities of states to that extent will drop.
He described Nigeria as a mono economy and dependant especially on oil, noting that each time the price or production quantity of oil drops, it affects the amount distributable to states.
The federal government, he however said has disclosed that they are putting in measures to check mate that.
These measures the government adduced, he said include keeping the activities of criminal tampering of oil installations minimal so that the problems would stop.
The drop in amount shared at FAC, he said has been there since last year, stating that the reason why states did not feel this much was because the FG has been drawing from the consolidated account of oil subsidy and has lately came to know that the account has been highly depleted.
He said the federal government has therefore decided that whatever was realized, would be shared that way and it has affected states.
In abia, the prudent management of the meager resources by the state governor has kept the state going, he said.