Under the leadership of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), the governors of the 36 states that make up the federation have finalised plans to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari to discuss the necessity of submitting the new draught of the revision of the vertical revenue allocation formula to the National Assembly as a bill for enactment prior to the end of his administration.
Aminu Tambuwal, the chairman of the NGF and the governor of Sokoto State, spoke with journalists after the governors’ meeting, which took place in the early hours of yesterday in Abuja. He said: “We also discussed the new revenue formula that the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commision, or RMAFC, submitted to Mr. President, and the need for us to approach Mr. President about the need for him to present the new draught formula to the National Assembly before this administration ends.
“We are going to meet with Mr. President in a forum and we’ll appeal to him to present that formula to the National Assembly.”
Recall that after missing the 2021 deadline, the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commision gave President Buhari a report in April 2022 reviewing the new vertical revenue allocation formula.
Elias Mbam, the commission’s chairman, had stated in 2021 that the report would be delivered to the president by December 31, but only at the end of the day. The deadline was missed by the commision.
The RMAFC chairman’s new formula calls for 45.17% for the Federal Government (FG), 29.79% for the states, and 21.04% for local government areas (LGAs).
He claimed that the commission’s report’s recommendations for special funds included 1.0% for ecology, 0.5% for stabilisation, 1.3% for the development of natural resources, and 1.20% for the FCT.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo oversaw the creation of the outdated revenue formula.
The 36 states now hold 26.72 percent of the total, the Federal Government now holds 52.68 percent, and the 774 local government areas across the nation now hold 20.60 percent.
As a result, the proposed formula suggested an upward review for local and state governments but a downward review for the federal government.
Tambuwal continued, “It’s nothing unusual, it’s a normal meeting of governors where we discussed issues concerning the country, the sub-nationals, and, of course, democracy and good governance. The meeting was originally scheduled to be a valedictory session for 17 outgoing governors.
“Today, we discussed the NFIU’s financial regulation guidelines, which aim to ensure that Nigeria is removed from the Financial Task Force’s “grey list.”
During our induction course, we also talked about the problem of primary healthcare and the developments to date. Awards will be given to some states for their achievements in certain milestones.
We also talked about the issue of unpaid stamp duties held by the Central Bank of Nigeria, which are owed to both the federal and state governments. We are attempting to ensure that they are released for distribution to both the federal and state governments.
As the NGF’s outgoing chairman, the governor of Sokoto State gave his assessment of the organisation in the following words: “As a forum and an institution of governance that we inherited from our leaders, the past governors, I believe a lot of achievements have been made, particularly as we made sure we maintained unity and cohesion, the non-partisanship of this platform and making sure that in all that we do, it is about Nigeria first and of course, our various states.”
