By PAMELA EBOH, Awka

The Anambra State Government has confirmed the official receipt of mineral derivation revenue from the Federation Account in the month of July 2022 with the first net receipt of N268, 232,939.16.

The state Commissioner for Finance, Ifeatu Onejeme, who handed out the confirmation in a statement in Awka on Thursday, urged the general public to disregard any other information about the amount of mineral derivation revenue received by Anambra State circulating in the social media, online media or any other media whatsoever, dismissing it as Fake News.

The statement partly read: “This Press Release is deemed necessary in the public interest, in the spirit of full disclosure and in line with our principle of transparency, to address the deliberate misinformation and provide Ndi Anambra and the general public with the correct state of affairs.

“The proviso to S.162 (2) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria provides that the principle of derivation shall be constantly reflected in any approved formula determined by the National Assembly for revenue allocation from the Federation account and such derivation shall not be less than thirteen per cent of the revenue accruing to the Federation directly from any natural resources.

“Following a decade of hard work by industry experts from Anambra State in collaboration with past administrations, Anambra State was officially recognised as a petroleum-bearing and Oil-producing State on July 27, 2021 by the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission at its 139th Plenary Session held on that date.

“The current administration of Prof Charles Chukwuma Soludo, CFR, took up the mantle from there with massive follow up and collaborative initiatives with relevant Federal Government Agencies to achieve the eventual implementation of the decision.”