IFEANYI EZUGWU,ENUGU
Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State has described the current
revenue sharing formula in Nigeria as lopsided saying that it needed
to be reviewed to ensure equity and fair play.
The Governor stated this in an address through his Deputy, Mr. Sunday
Onyebuchi during the South East zonal public hearing on the review of
the Revenue Allocation Formula in Nigeria organized by the Revenue
Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission, at Nike Lake Resort
Hotel, Enugu.
Governor Chime noted that states in the South East zone are faced with
enormous challenges including erosion control, cases of kidnapping
among others, adding that such challenges could be tackled more effectively
with increased funding.
The State Chief Executive observed that the state government
occasionally takes the responsibility of the federal government,
especially in the areas of road rehabilitation and equipment of the
security agencies, advising therefore that the states revenue share be
upwards reviewed to accommodate such challenges.
He proposed revenue sharing formula of 40% to the Federal Government,
40% to the States and 20% to the Local Governments.
The Governor thanked the commission for choosing Enugu State as venue
for the review exercise for the people of the South East zone assuring
participants of the state’s hospitality to them.
Earlier in an address, the Chairman of the Commission, Chief. Elias
Mbam noted that the commission has been engaged in advocacy and mass
mobilization campaign on the review exercise through consultations,
sensitizations and public hearings.
He added that the commission had visited the 36 states in the country,
and the FCT as well as the 774 Local Government Council Areas to
sensitize Nigerians to make inputs into the review process. According
to Chief Mbam, zonal public hearing on the process was also held in
Nasarawa State for the North Central zone, Kaduna for the North West
and the day’s on-going hearing in Enugu for the South East zone,
adding that other geo-political zones would be reached in the near
future.
The Commission boss noted that the exercise would give Nigerians the
platform to express their views and submit memoranda on the review
process. He assured that with the level of interests and
contributions made by stakeholders that the commission would leverage
on inputs to produce an acceptable formula that would stand the taste
of time.
The Chairman affirmed the commitment of the commission in ensuring
that all stakeholders are effectively carried along in its advocacy
and mass mobilization campaign on the review process.
All the states in the South East zone made presentation on the
occasion which mostly favoured upward review of the allocation to
states. They also called for consideration of population density,
ecological problems, school enrolment, among others in revenue sharing
in Nigeria .
