…Telecoms sector’s contribution to GDP hits 10%***
The governors of the 36 states of the federation, or their representatives, were on Wednesday locked in a crucial meeting with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) top management to attempt to patch up the crisis that aborted the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting for March.
Earlier in the day, Chairman, Finance Commissioners Forum of FAAC, Yunusa Mahmoud, told reporters the meeting of the committee scheduled to share the revenue for March had been cancelled.
Mr Mahmood, who is also the Nasarawa State Commissioner for Finance, said the cancellation of the meeting followed some “challenges” linked to poor revenue returns remitted by the NNPC.
“The meeting cannot hold because we have some challenges,” Mr Mahmood said. “The revenue figures we got for the month is far less than what we expected to be remitted by the NNPC.”
He expressed disappointment that the committee, made up of representatives of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, would again be made to end it’s meeting without members’ share of the revenue for the second month running.
Last month, the meeting ended in a stalemate, as the committee opted not to share the amount remitted to the purse by the NNPC.
The committee refused to approve the statutory allocations for the month following alleged discrepancies discovered in revenue figures presented by the NNPC.
Hours after the inconclusive meeting, the finance minister, who is also Chairman of FAAC, Kemi Adeosun, convened an emergency reconciliation meeting the following day to attempt to resolve the confusion.
The meeting, however, ended with a plea for the committee to agree to share the N647.39 billion that was available after an engagement with the state governors, to allow for the reconciliation of the over N100billion difference.
Since that meeting which involved the Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, PREMIUM TIMES learnt similar meetings have been held with top management of the NNPC without much positive outcome.
There are no immediate indication when Wednesday’s cancelled FAAC meeting would be rescheduled.
But, the anxiety in the states have reached boiling point, as most of them are said to be unsure where the money for their workers salaries for the month is going come from.
A top presidency source close to the venue of the high level meeting between the governors and top officials of the NNPC at the Presidential Villa said the agenda centred on how to raise enough revenue to bail out the situation.
“This is a very high level deliberation. Everyone understands what is at stake. Our expectation is that something good will come out of it. NNPC is duty bound to carry FAAC members along in its business. Anything short of transparency in its account rendition will always elicit questions,” Mr Mahmood said.
“There are processes in doing things. Some level of transparency is expected. When NNPC picks its figures, it should expect the figures it submit to be looked at and deliberated upon and ask questions if need be,” he noted.
The NNPC spokesperson, Ndu Ughamadu, did not answer several calls to his telephone on Wednesday night when this reporter sought to get his comment for this story. He equally did not respond to a text message sent to him on the same issue.
Meanwhile, a contribution of Nigeria’s telecommunications sector to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has hit 10 per cent. This was disclosed by the Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Danbatta, at an interaction with journalists in Lagos. Danbatta disclosed that telecommunications have made significant impacts in transforming the Nigerian economy.
According to him, figures published by the National Bureau of Statistics, in the first quarter of 2017 showed that it contributed N1.45 trillion to the GDP, in the second quarter, the figure rose to N1.549 trillion.
“This performance at a period of recession is very remarkable. We are keeping dates with the NBS to identify and track how these trends progress. On the aggregate, the telecoms industry’s contribution to GDP in Nigeria stands at 10 per cent”, he said.
“But the figures may not tell the entire story. Investments in the sector, in human and material resources, have continued to soar. In 2001, the telecom sector could boast of a mere $50 million worth of investments but as at September 2017, we have investments worth $70 billion. The Value Added Services (VAS), segment of the telecom market in Nigeria today is worth $200 million and is estimated to grow to $500 million by 2021. The industry has provided both direct and indirect employment opportunities, accentuated growth and expansion,” he stated.
In a related development, Danbatta, in Geneva, Switzerland, has formally presented Nigeria’s candidature for a re-election into the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Administrative Council and William Ijeh’s bid for the position of Director,Telecommunication Development Bureau of the ITU.
Danbatta made the formal presentation at a dinner organized for the ITU Secretary-General, Houlin Zhao, other elected officials of the global telecom regulatory body, ministers and chief regulators of member states from across the globe, among other dignitaries.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I now formally present to you Nigeria’s twin candidature for re-election into the ITU Administrative Council and William Ijeh, for the position of Director, Telecommunication Development Bureau of the ITU, for your support,” said the NCC boss.
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