New revenue allocation formula before end of 1st quarter

Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) says a new revenue formula will be released to Nigerians before the end of first quarter of this year. The Commission’s Chairman, Mr Elisa Mbam, disclosed this when the Nasarawa Governor, Alhaji Umar Almakura, visited him in Abuja. Mbam assured Nigerians that the commission would be guided by relevant provisions of the law in formulating the new revenue formula. He said that the commission was ready to collaborate with any tier of government to diversify the revenue base.

“On the issue of ecological, I want to inform you that the present revenue allocation formula provides for ecological problems, any state or local government which satisfies the requirement of the committee can access this fund. Right now the Accountant-General of the federation has opened an account with the CBN for revenue from solid minerals, this is where all revenue from solid minerals are deposited and the 13 per cent is not exclusive for oil, it includes any other natural resources.

“So you are entitled to 13 per cent or whatever revenue that comes from solid minerals from Nasarawa State, if you don’t get, let us know.’’ The RMAFC chairman advised Nigerians against politicising the issue of revenue allocation formula, adding that such action would over heat the polity and generate suspicion in the country. Earlier, Almakura said that the essence of the visit was to collaborate with the commission in its efforts to diversify its revenue base.
The governor, however, appealed to the commission to consider the state’s ecological challenges in the proposed new revenue allocation formula for the country.

According to him, diversification of revenue base comes with a lot of challenges, adding that Nasarawa State was faced with serious ecological challenges. He said that the commission was in a better position to address the situation before it becomes an emergency.
“We have tremendous amount of ecological challenges, they are in different range of intensity, in the first place, the state topography was such that the state has become vulnerable to ecological problems. Virtually, every year lives and property are lost due to effect of storm water problem which we consider as a critical ecological challenge that the commission needs to be aware of.’’

“Nasarawa State, being a service state to the federal capital, needs to be given more attention as it affects allocation of resources to take care of the challenges we are facing daily.’’ He said that the facilities in the state had been over stretched due to mass influx of people from the FCT to the state, adding that more than 50 per cent of the workers in the federal capital territory reside in the state.