Chairman of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) Mohammed Shehu has blamed the delay in releasing the new revenue allocation formula on the current amendment of the Nigerian constitution.
The RMAFC chairman said steps are being taken to amend the remuneration packages for political office holders to reflect current economic realities.
He revealed these while speaking at the 1st Economic Confidential Public Lecture and Book Presentation held on Tuesday in Abuja.
At the event, two books were unveiled as part of theme of the programme which is “Economic diversification in an evolving cashless society.”
The books that were unveiled are “Pantami: Trials and Triumph of a Digital Maestro” and “eNaira Revolution: A Peep Into Nigeria’s Cashless Future.”
Speaking at the event, Shehu said unless the proposed review of remuneration Act for the elected and designated public officials is passed into law in the remaining days of the current administration, total package of President elect, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu would remain N1.2m a month.
Similarly, he disclosed that the states’ governors monthly take-home pay is N1.1m per month, noting that some heads of agencies of government earn a better monthly salary than Nigeria President and state governors.
RMAFC Chairman said, “The salary of Mr. President is N1.2m a month. I’m sure some MDAs heads earn N5m and some N2m a month. No public servant in Nigeria should earn more than Mr. President and the governor of a state.”
He recalled that the last time salary review of political office holders and other designated public and judicial office holders was carried out was in 2008, noting that the exercise was overdue for review.
Paragraph 32(D) of part 1 to the third schedule of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, empowers RMAFC to determine the remuneration appropriate to political, public and judicial office holders in the country.
The Commission had commenced a process of reviewing remunerations for political, public and judicial office holders.
Speaking on the theme of the public lecture, Shehu said Nigeria had better diversify it economy from oil revenue to non- oil revenue as failing to do so could sink the country.
“Nigeria government has no other options to diversify the economy to non-oil revenue in the true sense of it or risk sinking. We can’t continue on this trajectory we are going, by relying on crude oil.
Nigeria has had to rely on the Federal Inland Revenue Service and the Nigeria Customs Service to fund the federation account.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited contribution to total revenue is not more than 5 percent of what we share to the entire federation,” he said.
Shehu said his commission has done a lot in aiding diversification of the economy from oil to non- oil sector.
“Prior to 2016, nobody knew revenue from solid minerals could form part of revenue sharing to federation. From N2bn solid mineral revenue in 2016, it has risen to N11 billion. Any solid mineral a state produces, it gets 13 percent derivation. The only snag is that the sector is driven largely by Artisans. The country is yet to attract big mining companies like Botswana and others.
Shehu recalled that the commission had earlier concluded and submitted to President Muhammadu Buhari a review of the vertical Revenue Allocation Formula.
The review, according to him, is to awaiting the assent by President, adding that this may be done before the May 29 handing over date.
In his remarks, the keynote speaker, the Minister of Communication and
Digital Economy, Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami said the issue of economic diversification cannot be overemphasised.
The Minister said what Nigeria requires was deploying technology tools to achieve diversification.
“Digital economy is a knowledge-based economy driven by the ICT revolution. Economic diversification today is all about a
knowledge-based economy engineered by digital technology,” the minister said.
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