By Emmanuel Addeh
The Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) will Monday commence the process of reviewing the current revenue allocation formula for the three tiers of government in the country.
Starting with a two-day public hearing in Lagos, South-west Nigeria, the event will kick off the nationwide consultations expected to lead to a new revenue sharing formula for the country, with the participation of Ekiti, Oyo, Ogun, Ondo and Osun States, aside Lagos.
Under the current sharing arrangement, the federal government takes 52.68 per cent of the revenue shared; the states get 26.72 per cent, while the local governments get 20.60 per cent.
In August, the Chairman of the commission, Mr. Elias Mbam, stated that the new formula would be ready before the end of 2021 and would be submitted to President Muhammadu Buhari for onward transmission to the National Assembly.
He said the review would focus on the vertical allocation of the revenue allocation formula – to the federal, state and local governments — pointing out that the consideration for the review was informed by the fact that the last general review of the formula was carried out 28 years ago.
He also said the political structure of the country had since changed with the creation of six additional states in 1996, bringing the number of states to 36, while the number of local governments also increased from 589 to 774.
A schedule of events released by the commission indicated that the review is pursuant to the body’s constitutional mandate that empowers it to “review from time to time, the revenue allocation formula and principles in operation to ensure conformity with changing realities”.
It further showed that the South-south zone will hold its own meeting in Rivers State on Thursday, October 7 to Friday October 8 with participants expected from Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta and Edo States.
For the South-east, which holds in Imo State from 11-12 of October, participants are expected from Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo States, while in the North-west, Kaduna State will host the public hearing with participants expected also from Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Sokoto, and Zamfara States.
Kogi State will be the host for the North-central from the 19-20th October, with participants from Benue, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger and Plateau States, while in the North-east, the public hearing will hold in Gombe State on 21st and 22nd October with participants expected from Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Taraba and Yobe States.
Also, in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the public hearing will hold on 25 and 26 October.
Participants at the zonal public hearings are expected to be drawn from state executives, legislatures, judiciary, local government officials, civil society groups, organised labour, elder statesmen, traditional rulers and the general public, the organisation stated.
The commission urged all stakeholders to participate effectively in the process and to submit five hard copies of their memoranda as well as soft copies of the proposed review to its office in Abuja or during the hearings across the zones.
