The fund-sharing meetings of the Federation Account Allocation Committee usually hold by the second week of every month, chaired by the Minister of State for Finance, to disburse funds for the previous month.
Salaries of public sector workers at all levels are paid after these allocations, which also constitute the largest source of funds for government projects.
Sources said that the FAAC meeting, which was supposed to have held last week, could not hold because the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Federal Inland Revenue Service and the Nigerian Customs Service did not remit revenues for the month of February into the Federation Account.
?As I am talking to you now nobody knows when FAAC would hold because there is no money in the Federation Account. NNPC and other revenue collection agencies are yet to remit into the account,? one of the sources said.
Last month, the allocation for the month of January was held February 20, with the delay being attributed to the petrol subsidy strike in January. Funds for the month of December were shared by mid-January.
But by last Friday, 16 days into this month, no monies were available for sharing for the month of February, sources said.
Last year, the monthly FAAC meeting was postponed several times because of NNPC?s N450 billion indebtedness to the Federation Account. The corporation later agreed to pay the debt in instalments.
When Daily Trust attempted to contact Minister of State for Finance Yerima Ngama for comments yesterday, he did not answer calls to his mobile phone and did not respond to the text message sent to him.
But the NNPC, which provides funds from crude oil sales, said yesterday there was no cause for alarm.
The Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs Division of the NNPC, Dr. Levi Ajuonuma, said the delay was normal and that there would be money for sharing.
Speaking to Daily Trust by telephone yesterday, Ajuonuma said that this was not the first time that such a scenario would happen, adding that nobody should panic.
?Everything would be fine. We are part of the global economy and is it not when we sell that we get money? There is no reason to panic. NNPC is equal to the task to ensure that Nigeria move on in this present dispensation,? he said.
But he did not say specifically when the funds would be remitted for sharing.
Last month, the Federal, states and local governments shared N614 billion for the month of January as against N616.93 shared in December, 2011.
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