Present New Revenue Formula To NASS, Govs Urge Buhari

The 36 State governors are set to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari to appeal to him, to present the new revenue formula  to the National Assembly for consideration before the end of his administration.

Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) and Sokoto State governor, Aminu Tambuwal, disclosed this to journalists after a meeting of the Forum on Wednesday night in Abuja.

Recall that last year, the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC)  presented the report on the review of the vertical revenue allocation formula to the President Buhari.

The new formula proposes 45.17% for Federal Government, 29.79% for States, and 21.04% for LGAs.

However, more than a year after, the President has not presented the report to the National Assembly.

Tambuwal said, “we are going to meet with Mr President as a forum and we’ll appeal to him to present that formula to the National Assembly.”

According to him, they also discussed  a range of topics, including financial regulation and primary healthcare.

He said among the issues discussed was the need for Nigeria to be taken off the grey list of the Financial Task Force, with the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit’s guidelines on financial regulation being a key topic.

He said the governors also discussed progress made in primary healthcare, with some states set to receive awards for their achievements.

He also said the governors discussed the issue of stamp duties owed to both the Federal and State Governments, adding that they were working to ensure that these were released for disbursement.

Tambuwal also commented that the forum has achieved a lot in terms of maintaining unity and non-partisanship, with a focus on Nigeria first and their individual states as second.

He said, “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.

“Today, we discussed the guidelines by the NFIU on financial regulation that is working on how to ensure that Nigeria is taken out of the grey list of the Financial Task Force.

“We also discussed the issue of primary healthcare and the progress made so far during our induction course. Some states that have attained some milestones are going to receive awards for their performance.

“We also discussed the new revenue formula submitted to Mr President by the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission and the need for us to approach Mr President on the need for him to present the new draft formula to the National Assembly before this administration winds up.

“We also discussed the issue of stamp duties being owed to both the Federal Government and the states and warehoused by the Central Bank and we are working to make sure that it is released for disbursement to both the Federal Government and the states.

“As a forum and an institution of governance that we inherited from our leaders, the past governors; I believe that a lot of achievements have been made, particularly as we made sure that we maintain tand unity the 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.

“We are  going to meet with Mr President as a forum and we’ll appeal to him to present that formula to the National Assembly. We will see,” he stated.