The Federal Government on Friday said nine oil-producing states received a total of N625.43 billion as 13 percent oil derivation, subsidy and SURE-P refunds from the Federation Account in the last two years, 2021-2022.
A press release issued by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, disclosed that the states that received the refunds dating from 1999 to 2021 are Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Imo, Ondo and Rivers.
He said that data obtained from the Federation Account Department, Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, showed that a total of N477.2 billion was released to those states as refund of the 13 percent derivation fund on withdrawal from Excess Crude Account (ECA) without deducting derivation from 2004 to 2019, leaving an outstanding balance of N287.04 billion.
The states also got N64.8 billion as refund of the 13 per cent derivation fund on deductions made by the NNPC without payment of derivation to oil-producing states from 1999 to December.
The benefitting states, according to him, still have an outstanding balance of N860.59 billion windfall from the refunds, which was approved by President Muhammadu Buhari.
According to the figures, under the 13 per cent derivation fund on withdrawal from ECA without deducting derivation from 2004 to 2019, Abia State received N4.8 billion with outstanding sum of N2.8 billion, Akwa Ibom received N128 billion with outstanding sum of N77 billion, and Bayelsa with N92.2bn, leaving an outstanding of N55 billion.
He said Cross River got a refund of N1.3 billion with a balance N792 million, Delta received N110 billion, leaving a balance of N66.2 billion; Edo received N11.3 billion, with a balance of N6.8 billion; Imo, N5.5 billion, with an outstanding sum of N3.3 billion; Ondo N19.4 billion with an outstanding sum of N11.7 billion, while Rivers was paid 103.6 billion, with an outstanding balance of N62.3 billion.
“The states were paid in eight instalments between October 2, 2021 and January 11, 2022, while the ninth to twelfth instalments are still outstanding,” Shehu said.
On the 13 per cent derivation fund on deductions made by NNPC without payment of derivation, he said the nine oil-producing states were paid in three instalments this year, with the remaining 17 instalments outstanding.
Under this category, Abia received N1.1 billion; Akwa Ibom, N15 billion; Bayelsa, N11.6 billion; Cross River, N432 million; Delta, N14.8 billion; Edo, N2.2 billion; Imo, N2.9, billion; Ondo, N3.7 billion, and Rivers, N12.8 billion.
Meanwhile, Shehu also disclosed that the benefitting states shared N9.2 billion in three instalments in April, August and November, 2022 as refunds on the 13 per cent derivation exchange rate differential on withdrawal from the ECA.
The three largest benefitting states were Akwa Ibom (N1.6 billion), Delta (N1.4 billion) and Rivers (N1.32 billion).
Similarly, all the nine states received N4.7 billion each, totalling N42.34 billion as refunds on withdrawals for subsidy and SURE-P from 2009 to 2015. The refund, which is for all the states and local government councils, was paid on November 10, 2022.
The Federation Account also paid N3.52 billion each as refund to local government councils on withdrawals for subsidy and SURE-P from 2009 to 2015 on the same date in November.
“President Buhari considers it a matter of honour and decency that debts owed to states or anyone for that matter be repaid, and in time without regards to their partisan political affiliations,” he said, adding, “The President will continue to render equal service to all the states of the federation and an acknowledgment of this by Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State and the others is not out of place.”
The refunds to the oil producing states will continue, he said.
