Ekiti's FAAC share was minus N6.69bn in January after N21.21bn of deductions. Its half-year report books N96.77bn from FAAC, the federal tables N56.37bn net

Officials have said this week that states now receive "over N2 trillion" a month from the Federation Account Allocation Committee and should account for it. The Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation publishes the state-by-state figures behind that claim in a monthly table, Table III, for each FAAC meeting. We downloaded the six tables for the meetings held from January to June 2026, which share the revenue of December 2025 to May 2026, extracted every state's row and re-added each one against its printed totals. Every row balanced.

On those tables the 36 states together were allocated N703.26bn net in January, N768.52bn in February, N661.40bn in March, N708.18bn in April, N836.05bn in May and N848.38bn in June. The first three months come to N2,133.18bn and the second three to N2,392.60bn, a rise of 12.16 per cent. These are the N2.13tn and N2.39tn quarterly figures that have circulated this week, and the federal tables support them. They do not support a monthly figure above N2tn for the states: no month exceeded N848.38bn net, or N930.66bn gross. Monthly FAAC distributions to all three tiers of government, federal, state and local, have been above N2tn; the states' share of them has not.

Gross and net differ because money is taken at source. Across the six tables the states' gross allocation came to N5,067.38bn and their net to N4,525.78bn. The four deduction columns account for N528.18bn of that: external debt service N253.93bn, contractual obligations under Irrevocable Standing Payment Orders N56.84bn, "other deductions" N157.09bn and VAT deductions N60.32bn. Lagos had the largest deductions in naira, N110.82bn against a gross of N476.59bn. Delta, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Bayelsa followed it as the largest net recipients, all carried by the 13 per cent derivation share.

In proportion, Ekiti lost most. Its six-month gross was N91.23bn and its net N56.37bn, so N34.87bn, or 38.2 per cent, was deducted before cash reached the state. Measured against its statutory allocation alone, N40.99bn, the deductions took 85.1 per cent. External debt accounted for N5.34bn, contractual obligations for N2.07bn at N345m a month, and "other deductions" for N27.46bn.

Most of that came in one month. In the January 2026 table, which shares December 2025 revenue, Ekiti's statutory allocation was N6,060,853,146.06. Against it the table sets N696,903,496.43 of external debt, N345,000,000.00 of contractual obligations and N21,209,410,093.26 of other deductions, leaving a net statutory allocation of minus N16,190,460,443.63. After EMTL, ecology and VAT were added, Ekiti's total net amount for the month is printed in brackets: minus N6,685,302,539.60. It is the only negative total net figure for any state in the six tables. Kaduna and Lagos each had a negative net statutory line in February, minus N1.68bn and minus N2.50bn, but positive totals once VAT was added.

The table does not say what the N21.21bn of other deductions was for. In every other month of the half-year Ekiti's other deductions were between N1.18bn and N1.38bn.

Ekiti's own Budget Implementation Report for the second quarter, prepared by its Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning with the Office of the State Accountant-General, reports the money differently. Table 3 on page 13 records Government Share of FAAC of N96,768,006,864.94 for January to June, 46.8 per cent of a full-year budget of N206,786,293,245.04, and the narrative describes the sum as "realized". That is N40.40bn more than the N56.37bn net in the federal tables, and N5.54bn more than even the federal gross of N91.23bn. Part of that difference may lie in FAAC distributions outside Table III: the report's other FAAC revenues line, N9.83bn, includes N2.76bn of excess crude.

Line by line, Ekiti's report books statutory allocation of N42,120,782,476.25 for the half-year, close to the federal gross statutory figure of N40,985,791,331.68 and far from the net figure of N6,119,291,516.71. Its VAT line agrees with the federal tables to the kobo for the first quarter, N25,003,834,739.33, and differs by exactly N13,000,000.00 in the second. That is consistent with the state booking its allocation gross. On page 5 the report records public debt charges of N15,640,768,852.35 for the half-year against a full-year budget of N32bn. The N34.87bn deducted at source in six months is larger than that full-year line. The report does not show where among its expenditure lines, if anywhere, the deductions are recorded.

Gross booking is not unique to Ekiti, and where we could test VAT the states' reports agree with Abuja. Katsina's second-quarter report gives VAT of N58,402,251,360.41 for the half-year and Anambra's N51,508,731,934.93, each identical to the federal tables. Katsina books statutory allocation of N57,906,742,180.75, against a federal gross of N56,346,380,864.51 and a net of N40,611,807,178.98 after N15.73bn of deductions. Niger books N55,800,174,802.71 against a federal gross of N54,296,577,278.22 and a net of N41,245,176,948.19 after N13.05bn of deductions; its VAT line is N98,999,999.85 above the federal sum.

Anambra sits at the other end. Its deductions over six months were N2.62bn on a gross of N111.17bn. Its report shows the Mineral Fund (13% Derivation) line at zero although the federal tables credit it with N8.01bn of derivation over the same months; its statutory line, N54.85bn, appears to include it.

Against the states' own budgets, the deductions are not trivial. Ekiti's N34.87bn is 16.9 per cent of the N206.79bn it budgeted from FAAC for all of 2026, taken in half a year. Katsina's N15.73bn is 3.2 per cent of its N488.71bn FAAC budget, and Niger's N13.05bn is 2.8 per cent of N464.84bn.

The record supports the officials on the size of the quarterly flow and its growth. It also shows that the figure states report as received is, at least for statutory allocation, the gross before deductions, and that for some states, Ekiti above all, the cash actually paid was much smaller. Holding states to account for FAAC money depends on which of the two figures is being asked about.

What this rests on

OAGF Table III for the January to June 2026 FAAC meetings, all 36 rows parsed and re-added (gross minus external debt, ISPO and other deductions equals net statutory; gross VAT minus VAT deduction equals net VAT; every row balanced). States net: 703,256,985,262.15 + 768,521,450,696.43 + 661,402,638,379.52 = 2,133,181,074,338.10 (Q1); 708,177,214,372.84 + 836,049,090,721.46 + 848,375,389,847.39 = 2,392,601,694,941.69 (Q2); 2,392.60 / 2,133.18 = 1.1216. H1 gross 5,067,375,404,226.46, net 4,525,782,769,279.79. Deductions: 253,930,438,608.65 + 56,840,058,048.99 + 157,091,231,068.88 + 60,316,151,121.82 = 528,177,878,848.34 (gross minus net is 541,592,634,946.67; the 13,414,756,098.33 remainder sits in non-deduction columns such as the 50% ecology transfer to NDDC/HYPPADEC, not itemised here). Ekiti January: 6,060,853,146.06 - 696,903,496.43 - 345,000,000.00 - 21,209,410,093.26 = -16,190,460,443.63; + 379,161,681.08 EMTL + 167,839,010.20 ecology + 8,958,157,212.74 VAT = -6,685,302,539.61 (table prints -6,685,302,539.60, rounding). Ekiti H1: deductions 5,336,409,148.22 + 2,070,000,000.00 + 27,460,090,666.75 = 34,866,499,814.97; 91,231,792,758.59 - 34,866,499,814.97 = 56,365,292,943.62 net; 34.87/91.23 = 38.2%; 34.87/40.99 = 85.1%; own FAAC 96,768,006,864.94 - 56,365,292,943.62 = 40,402,713,921.32; 96.77 - 91.23 = 5.54bn; 34.87/206.79 = 16.9%. Ekiti VAT Q2: 19,811,705,526.88 (state) - 19,798,705,526.88 (federal) = 13,000,000.00. Katsina deductions 10,174,655,170.30 + 5,100,000,000.00 + 459,918,515.23 = 15,734,573,685.53 (3.2% of 488,707,959,918.39). Niger 6,688,828,463.22 + 2,776,108,909.17 + 3,586,462,957.64 = 13,051,400,330.03 (2.8% of 464,837,145,147.00); Niger VAT 50,930,255,431.69 - 50,831,255,431.84 = 98,999,999.85. Anambra deductions 2,250,442,128.83 + 372,010,586.36 = 2,622,452,715.19. Comparisons set FAAC sharing months January to June against the states' Q1 to Q2 reports; the exact VAT matches indicate the states book receipts by sharing month.

What this does not establish

What Ekiti's N21.21bn of other deductions in January 2026 paid for; the federal table gives no breakdown and no Ekiti document we read names it. Whether Ekiti records the deductions among its expenditure lines. Where Ekiti's N5.54bn above the federal gross comes from. Why Ekiti's Q2 VAT differs by N13m and Niger's by about N99m. The exact wording and speakers of the 'over N2 trillion a month' statement; we did not retrieve a transcript. Nothing in these documents shows that any money was misapplied.