Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has claimed that many states are in financial distress following the inability of Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited to remit any revenue into the Federation account since the beginning of the year.
El-Rufai brought up the issue during the 2022 Tax Dialogue, which the Kaduna State Revenue Service conducted on Monday.
He claimed that in order to survive, both the Federal and State governments now rely on the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS).
According to him, the situation has led to the inability of most states to pay salaries and fulfill their social contract to citizens.
El-Rufai declared last month that the Federal government should leave the oil and gas industry because it has failed.
He added that the NNPC is Nigeria’s biggest issue and should be privatized, claiming that nothing has changed since the commercialization of the NNPP in July.
“This year, NNPC has not brought N20,000 to the federation account. We are living on taxes. It is PPTs, royalties, income tax and VAT that is keeping this country going because NNPC claims that subsidy has taken all the oil revenues. I don’t believe it,” El-Rufai noted.