Governors to engage Buhari on new revenue formula

The nation’s 36 Governors have hinted of plan to engage President Muhammadu Buhari on the new revenue formula recently developed by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) and submitted to the President.

Sokoto State Governor and Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), Aminu Tambuwal, who disclosed this, said the Governors would meet with the President to understand the details of the draft formula and ensure that it is submitted to the 9th National Assembly for passage before the end of this administration.

Tambuwal spoke in Abuja late on Wednesday after a meeting of the NGF held in Abuja.

He said: “We (the meeting) discussed the new revenue formula submitted to Mr President by the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission (RMFC) and the need for us to approach Mr President on the need for him to present the new draft formula to National Assembly before this administration winds up.”

Tambuwal was optimistic that the details of the new formula will be made available when the governors meet with the president and when it is presented to the Legislature.

He added: “We are going to meet Mr President, as the leadership of the forum and we will appeal to him to present that draft revenue formular. By the time it is presented, you will see what is there.”

The Sokoto State Governor who gave hints of what happened at the meeting, said the governors discussed issues that bordered on national, sub-national, democracy and good governance, including the need for timely release of the collected stamp duties warehoused in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for disbursement.

He added: “We discussed the guidelines by the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) on financial regulations that it is working on in ensuring that Nigeria is taken out of grey lists of the financial tax force.

“We also discussed the issue of Primary Healthcare Seattle Declaration and the progress made so far. During our induction course, some states that have attained some milestones are going to receive some awards for their performance.

“We also discussed the issue of stamp duties that have been held, both the Federal Government and the states that is warehoused in Central Bank of Nigeria.

“We are working to make sure that it is released for disbursements to both federal government and state,” Tambuwal said.

While assessing NGF’s contributions so far, Tambuwal said the forum has helped the governors to ensure cohesion, unity, non-partisanship in dealing with affairs that affect the country.

According to him, “The NGF is actually doing well in terms of bringing governors together, working together for national interest, for the interests of the states.

“Making sure that there is that unity amongst governors on national issues. I believe NGF has done very well.”