Katsina State Governor Aminu Masari has expressed concern that the country has not been able to come out clean with a true and reflective revenue allocation to the 3 tiers of government in the country in 1999.
Governor Masari said this when he received the Federal Commissioner, Revenue Mobilization and Fiscal Allocations Commission, representing Katsina State, Kabir Mashi and his team.
He said, there is lopsidedness in the sharing formula.
According to Masari, despite the several revenues generating agencies of the Federal Government, the revenue allocation commission has always allocated 50% to the Federal Government and left the state and local governments to share 40%.
He added that both the state and local governments, despite bearing the burden of governance, is overstretched and overburdened by Federal Government agencies, who are in the states, carrying out one form of the activity of the order, hence, the need for its review, to meet the current realities in the country.
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Masari further added that, with the current Board of Directors of the state’s Internal Revenue Office and the development of a green economic zone, with over 100 hectares of land, the state will soon become independent, without depending on the federation account.
The Federal Commissioner, Revenue Mobilization and Fiscal Allocations Commission, representing Katsina State, Kabir Mashi, said they are in the state to commence the review of the vertical allocation of the revenue formula, by embarking on nationwide sensitization to states.
He said the essence, is to take decisions and make recommendations where necessary, aimed at making effective, efficient and suggest better ways to increase internally generated revenue, to avoid over-dependence on the federation account.
Mashi, therefore, reiterated that the commission is committed to ensuring a desirable and generally acceptable new revenue sharing formula that will benefit the citizenry in the shortest time possible.
(Editor:Abaje Usekwe)
