From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Governors of the 36 States of the Federation under the aegis of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), are to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari, with the intention to push him to present the new draft Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission in 2022, to the National Assembly, before a new administration takes over on May 29, 2023.
Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum and Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal made this disclosure to newsmen late Wednesday night at a meeting of the governors.
Tambuwal while speaking on the purpose of the meeting, said: “It was a normal meeting of governors where we discussed issues concerning the country, the sub-nationals and of course, democracy and good governance.
“We discussed the new revenue formula submitted to Mr President by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission and the need for us to approach Mr President for him to present the new draft formula to the National Assembly before this administration winds up.
“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!”
Recall RMAFC had last year April, presented a report on the review of the vertical allocation formula to President Buhari for necessary action.
The report proposed a revenue-sharing formula of 45.17 per cent to the Federal Government, 29.79 per cent to States and 21.04 per cent to Local Governments.
In the current revenue-sharing arrangement, the Federal Government takes home 52.68 per cent, while the State and Local Governments take 26.72 per cent and 20.60 per cent respectively.
According to the outgoing governor of Sokoto, the Forum also discussed the guidelines on financial regulations set by the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, primary healthcare, and stamp duties, among others.
Recall NFIU had set March 1 as the deadline on cash withdrawals from all federal, state and local government accounts. It has also said any cash withdrawal by federal, state and local governments withdrew from 2015-2022, will be investigated.
But Tambuwal said: “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 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 issue of stamp duties being owed to both the Federal and the State Governments 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.”
On his assessment of the NGF so far, he said the Forum has done very well, noting that “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 the 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.”
Tambuwal also said the governors did not take a definite stand on the proposed removal of fuel subsidies by the incoming administration.
In attendance was Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, accompanied by the Kaduna State Governor-elect, Senator Uba Sani: Governors Godwin Obaseki (Edo), Babagana Zulum (Borno), Abubakar Badaru (Jigawa), Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi), Yahaya Bello (Kogi) and Duoye Diri of Bayelsa State.
Others include Seyi Makinde, Simon Lalong, Aminu Masari, Dapo Abiodun, Hope Uzodinma and Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Oyo, Plateau, Katsina, Ogun, Imo and Lagos States respectively, among others.