Nigeria’s 36 states and the 774 local government councils shared a total sum of N2.6 trillion from the Federation Account in 2016 in spite of the prevailing economic recession.

In an elaborate investigation by the Economic Confidential, an intelligence economic magazine, the total figure was payment made to the two tiers of government between January and December 2016 at the monthly meeting of the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC).

In the report, Lagos State is ranked first as the highest recipient of gross allocation with a total sum of N178bn in the twelve months. It is followed by Akwa State N150bn, Rivers N134bn, Delta State N126bn and Kano State N111bn. The five states cornered a quarter (25%) of the total allocation for the States and local government councils in Nigeria Among the 10 highest recipients from the Federation Account are Bayelsa State which got N99bn; followed by Katsina State N83bn, Oyo State N80bn, Kaduna State N78bn and Borno State N73bn.

The lowest recipients are Gombe and Ebonyi states that got N46bn each followed by Ekiti and Nasarawa states N47bn each and Kwara N49bn.

The report further disclosed that Edo and Ondo which are oil-producing states got N59bn and N70bn respectively while another state in the South-South, Cross River State merely received N55bn.

The Economic Confidential gathered that factors that influence allocations to states and local government councils from the Federation Account include: Population, Derivation, Landmass, Terrain, Revenue Effort, School Enrolments, Health Facilities, Water Supply and Equality of the beneficiaries.

Meanwhile, the Economic Confidential which has been publishing the monthly Federation Account Allocation figures in the print edition of the magazine since January 2007, has commenced the publication of the monthly allocation in its online version.