Abdulwahab Isa 
As Nigerians’ anger with the Federal Government on acute hardship continues, Sunday Telegraph can reveal that revenue disbursement to states from Federation Account Allocation Committee ( FAAC) in past one year of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration amounted to N3.3 trillion (N3,313,748,859,134.51). A compilation of monthly FAAC disbursement to 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) from June 2023 to June,2024 showed that Lagos, Kano and Rivers states are leading states in allocation collections.
The state’s portion of FAAC allocation excludes local government councils’ allocation, which goes to the states’ purses, courtesy of State and Local Government Joint Account (SLGJA). The sum in addition, excludes the state’s Internally Generated Revenue, IGR.
Of the total amount disbursed, Lagos State received highest allocation in the sum of N285,186,061,900.33, followed by Kano State which got N175, 930,709,701.28 within 13 months period of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu government. Rivers State got N142,907,549,344.79; Akwa – Ibom State received N106,633,254,536.35, Delta State N96,177,653,861.60.
Other states and their grand total FAAC allocation in the past one year are as follows: Edo State, N70,950,349,811.24; Abia, N62,890,733,418.49; Adamawa N80,484,822,086.56; Anambra N84,962,705,871.99; (see table of states and their FAAC allocation ).
While Nigerians’ attentions are devoted on the Federal Government in terms of social development and citizens’ welfare, the 36 states and the FCT manned by governors receive a lesser attention on what they do with their received revenue allocation.
The monthly FAAC disbursement to the local government councils are also at the mercy of states’ governors, courtesy of the local government joint account, which was recently reversed by a Supreme Court ruling .
With the unanimous judgement of its seven-member panel, the Supreme Court upheld the suit brought by the Federal Government to strengthen the independence of local governments in the country.
A member of the panel, Emmanuel Agim, who delivered the court’s lead judgement, held that the local governments across the country should, from July 11 receive their allocations directly from the Accountant-General of the Federation.
Tinubu’s administration aroused public anger on adoption of twin economic policies – fuel subsidy removal and floating of forex exchange rate, two painful economic policies simultaneously announced in 2023, when he took oath of office as Nigera’s president.
Although, the policies were meant to correct structural defects inherent in the economy, with a view to putting the economy on strong footings, their implementations inflicted unintended pains on Nigerians, leaving them with an eroded purchasing power and escalated poverty level.
A deep seething anger hardship busted into an #Endbadgovernance protests on August 1.
The protests led to loss of lives and destruction of properties.
In a nationwide broadcast, President Tinubu sued for calm. He enumerated steps and interventions by his administration to address the hardship. He disclosed that his government released N570 billion to 36 state governors as part of measures to cushion hardships triggered by economic reforms policies by his government.
Other interventions by his administration to lessen the hardship burden on Nigerians , included Nano grants to over 600,000 Nano-businesses while an additional 400,000 more Nano-businesses were expected to benefit.
