President Muhammadu Buhari has recieved a report of a new revenue formula submitted by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC).
The report was submitted to the President on Thursday at the State house Abuja.
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This will be the first time Nigeria’s revenue formula will be reviewed since 1992.
President Buhari says he will wait for the final outcome of the constitution review process before presenting the report of the review to the national assembly as a bill for enactment.
According to the President some of the proposed amendments in the report are the Establishment of local government as a tier of government and the associated abrogation of the state/local government account.
The report also recommends moving airports; fingerprints, identification and criminal records from the exclusive legislative list to the concurrent legislative list, and empowering the RMAFC to enforce compliance with remittance of accruals into and disbursement of revenue from the Federation Account as well as streamlining the procedure for reviewing the revenue allocation formula.
President Buhari told the revenue commission that his decision to send the report to the national assembly as a bill is more in line with entrenching democratic tenets unlike issuing an executive modification order as was done in 1992.
The President also thanked Nigerians, especially the State and Local Governments, for making their inputs through the broad stake-holder engagement processes that produced the report.
In his remarks, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, said the RMAFC followed due process in undertaking the exercise, and sought the opinion of the Federal Government before finalizing the report.
Also speaking RMFAC chairman Elias Mbam said the leading philosophy behind the proposed review was guided ‘‘by the need for distributive justice, equity and fairness as enshrined in relevant Sections of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).’’
He added that the principles took into cognizance the indivisibility of the country, public opinion and weighted Constitutional responsibilities and functions of the three levels of Government.
Editor: Ena Agbanoma
