Connect with us

Politics

Case for true fiscal federalism resurfaces as Reps say current sharing formula is illegal

Published

on

A House of Representatives ad hoc committee has said that the current revenue allocation formula in the country was not approved by the National Assembly and has described it as illegal.

The committee which is investigating data collection processes, maintenance and usage by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), stated this on Friday during a pre-public hearing session with the acting chairman of the commission, Mr. Shettima Abba-Gana.

The sharing formula has overtime generated a lot of controversies and is one of the leading arguments in the demand for true federalism.

The head of the committee and a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from Benue State, Mr. Mark Terseer-Gbillah, has therefore vowed that the legislature would continue to oppose the revised sharing formula on the grounds that it was never approved by the parliament.

This came after Abba-Gana told the committee that RAMAFC has reviewed the sharing formula as a statutory duty and sent its report to the Presidency and that the reviewed formula had been updated.

Abba-Gana, went further to tell the committee that the Presidency was expected to forward the report to the parliament, but that he was not sure whether or not the report has been submitted to the National Assembly for approval.

It was upon this explanation that the committee members dubbed the reviewed formula as “unconstitutional” on the grounds that there is no evidence that any such report has been submitted to the National Assembly let alone being approved by the lawmakers.

“What this means is that the current revenue allocation formula is illegal and unconstitutional because it is not backed by law. If it is true that you got it across to the President, then it should have been here by now.

READ ALSO: ‘The fact that I am not confirmed shows I am working’- Magu

“Members were also alarmed that in spite of the important nature of RMAFC’s work, the agency was still collecting data manually from the 36 states and local governments for processing, with little or no Information and Communications Technology input,” the committee chairman, Teseer Mark-Gbillah said.

Recall that under the current sharing formula, the Federal Government takes the fattest share of 52.68 per cent from the Federation Account, while the 36 states take 26.72 per cent, leaving the balance of 20.60 per cent to the 774 local governments in the country to share.

The sharing formula which has overtime generated a lot of controversies and has continued to be one of the leading arguments in the demand for true federalism, form part of the reasons the committee was set up.

 

RipplesNigeria… without borders, without fears

Click here to join the Ripples Nigeria WhatsApp group for latest updates.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now