By Ankeli Emmanuel (Sokoto)
Sokoto State Governor and former Speaker of the 7th National Assembly, Rt. Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal has decried what he described as the lack of transparency in the generation process, assemblage, and disbursement of Nigeria's revenue, hence the consistent embargo towards reviewing the sharing formula.
Tambuwal who emphatically stressed that the revenue sharing formula of the Federation is hard to untangle because there is no transparency in the way and manner it is derived, assembled, and disbursed, added that even the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), is seemingly weak and unable to function optimally because of these obvious factors.
According to Tambuwal, the operators and overseers of Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) that are supposed to be state representatives, are tied to the apron string of the Federal Government, thus making the body unable to fulfill its constitutionally stipulated half a decade statutory review of the sharing formula.
Speaking when the Senate Committee on Constitutional Amendment led by Senator Adamu Aleiro paid him a courtesy call at the Sokoto Government House, Tambuwal averred that transparency can only come in when the members of the RMAFC are nominated, screened and appointed by their respective States.
In addition to State nomination, the members, said Tambuwal, should remain detached from the control of the Presidency if the fulfillment of the stipulated Constitutional review of the revenue sharing formula is to be achieved.
Governor Tambuwal further suggested that the same process should be applied in the running of the Federal Character Commission (FCC), the National Population Commission (NPC) "and all Commissions at the Center that are having State representation.
"That will give them (the representatives) some courage and moral high ground to go and represent their states, unlike what we have today," he opined.
"It is very important that we do not only review the revenue formula but we make the revenue sources, collection and distribution very transparent. Unfortunately for us, for the first time in the history of Nigeria and ironically under President Muhammadu Buhari, the NNPC declared zero allocation to FAAC.
"This is, obviously, due to lack of transparency. So, we need to unbundle the finances of the Federation and make their pooling, collection and distribution as transparent as possible.
"That can only be possible when you have an independent Accountant-General of the Federation separate from the Accountant-General of the Federal Government; which is part of what we submitted as a people from Sokoto Center.
"That would also happen if you have a strong, virile Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission, whereby states nominate Commissioners to that Commission and they are screened by the states House of Assembly. So, they will be strong enough to go and represent their states; not the situation we have now that the President will seat in Abuja and nominate for each state and they will be screened by the Senate. They are not representing states but those who nominated them. It is a very sour thing," he emphasized.
Recalling with nostalgia how previous efforts towards reviewing the revenue sharing formula failed, governor Tambuwal said RMAFC has to wait for the President to be ready, then they will send (the proposed review)" to him; and he would pass it on to the National Assembly.
He objected to this and stated that "the RMAFC, which is for the Federal Republic of Nigeria," should "draft a review every five years as required by the Constitution and send it to the National Assembly.
A statement by Tambuwal's spokesperson, Muhammad Bello, quoted the governor as saying, "Let the President and the governments of the States which are the Federation units go and battle it on the floor of the National Assembly where you have representatives of the States and the President. So, they will compete favorably.
"As it is, that is skewed in favor of the Federal Government. That is why Presidents Obasanjo, Yar'adua, Jonathan and Buhari were not able to change that,"
Tambuwal appealed to the Committee to make the suggestions presented by his state workable in order to "unbundle the financial sector for the Federation and allow it to be more transparent." NNL.
