Nigeria Gross Government Revenues Rise For Second Month In June

Nigeria’s gross government revenues rose in June for the second month in a row to reach 485.95 billion naira ($2.44 billion), the finance ministry said, partly due to a crackdown on official corruption.

The total of 518.542 billion naira, up 33 percent from May, included a 6.33 billion refund by the state oil company, value-added tax of 64.99 billion naira and an exchange rate gain of 6.69 billion naira.

In May, Nigeria received 324.06 billion naira in revenues and distributed 409.35 billion naira between the federal, state and local governments.

The balance of the Excess Crude Account stood at $2.207 billion, up from $2.078 billion on June 23.

International oil prices rose at the end of April and benchmark Brent futures were sustained in the $60s a barrel range before falling again into the $50s a barrel range at the start of July.

Africa’s biggest oil producer depends on oil sales for about 70 percent of its government revenues.

Anastasia Daniel-Nwoabia, permanent secretary of the finance ministry, said revenues were hit by a shutdown of pipelines feeding the Nembe and Forcados crude export terminals.

Shell declared force majeure on exports of the Forcados crude stream in early May due to leaks on the main pipeline. The force majeure was lifted in mid-July.

“A price increase in crude of 9.8 per cent, recorded between April and May, was not enough to cancel the effect of a revenue drop due to a decline in the volume of crude oil sold, but the noticeable increase in revenue was as a result of blockage of some leakage in revenue sources,” Daniel-Nwoabia said.

President Muhammadu Buhari, inaugurated at the end of May, has delayed appointing his cabinet until September in order to flush out corrupt practices and plug “financial leakages” that went unchecked under the previous administration.

He has enlisted the help of the United States to go after billions in stolen government funds, namely through oil theft.

REUTERS