MARCH 4, 2012 BY OLUSOLA FABIYI, JOHN AMEH AND OLUWOLE JOSIAH
National Assembly building, Abuja | credits: File copy
Northern governors have intensified their quest for a review of the federal revenue formula by making moves to solicit the support of President Goodluck Jonathan and the northern caucus in the National Assembly, SUNDAY PUNCH has learnt.
There has been a renewed agitation from 19 governors of northern states for a review, following recent complaints from them that they are no longer able to meet up their financial responsibilities in their respective states.
SUNDAY PUNCH gathered that since the Chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum, Aliyu Babangida of Niger State, publicly demanded that the formula should be reviewed to guarantee equity and fairness in the distribution of the nation’s wealth, federal lawmakers have been meeting to turn this clamour into reality.
Already, talks have intensified among the northern senators and members of the lower house to sponsor a bill to review the current sharing formula in the federation.
Confirming this, a senior member of the House from the North, Mr. Jerry Manwe, told our correspondent that the need to review the sharing formula was ‘long overdue.’
“We are pained that some share 20 times what others get. For the sake of justice and fairness, we need to review the revenue sharing formula,” Manwe said.
Manwe, who is the Chairman of the House Committee on Electoral Matters, was confident that no northern legislator would oppose a bill on the review of the revenue formula.
He added, “I can assure you that it will receive the support of all members from the North.
“Have you heard any member from the North speaking against this issue? Even the members from the South, have any of them opposed it? If those from the South have not opposed it, why will northerners oppose it?”
Manwe then called on the governors to be quick to sponsor a bill to the National Assembly on the matter through any of their representatives, adding that it would get a speedy nod from lawmakers.
“We expect them to take the issue further by sponsoring a bill. They can use any of their representatives; they can use me or anybody as a co-sponsor.
“If there is such a bill before us, it will certainly receive our support,” Manwe, a Peoples Democratic Party member, stated.
Another legislator from the North, Mr. Tajudeen Yusuf, who was reluctant to discuss the strategy of the northern lawmakers because ‘the review of the revenue sharing formula is not a matter for the pages of newspapers,’ however said the House was ‘interested in knowing the details of what the governors want.”
In the Senate, Northern members have also expressed their support for a review of the current revenue sharing formula to make more funds available to states.
Some senators had earlier called for devolution of funds to states in the face of the current economic realities.
While treating a motion brought by Senator Olubunmi Adetumbi on the financial status of states across the country, senators agreed that the federal system in operation was skewed against the states.
Senator Aweisu Kuta (Niger South), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Federal Character and Intergovernmental Affairs, told SUNDAY PUNCH that the call for the review was timely and necessary to make more money available to states and local governments.
He said he was however not in support of any call for a reduction in what goes to the oil-producing states, given the huge developmental needs of the region occasioned by environmental degradation and years of neglect.
He said, “I don’t think that a review of the revenue formula will benefit only the northern states, everybody will benefit from the review. We certainly need more money for states.
“I am however not against anything that goes to the oil producing states, because of the environmental problems in the region. My concern here is how the funds are managed.
“If you go to the Niger Delta, you will see poverty in the faces of the people; but their leaders are living in opulence. Where did they get all that money from?” he said.
Senator Ahmed Lawan (Yobe North), who heads the Senate’s Public Accounts Committee, also told our correspondent in a telephone interview that he was in support of the review.
“It has been my view that the states and local governments should get more funds to meet their developmental needs. I have been calling for the review. But this means that with more money going to states, it will mean more responsibilities for the states,” he said.
Lawan added that some items on the Exclusive Legislative List would need to be removed in order to give more powers and responsibilities to states.
According to him, the review will commence after the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission sends an amendment proposal to the President, who will in turn forward the review to the National Assembly for enactment.
SUNDAY PUNCH further gathered that the Northern governors would soon meet the President to register their displeasure over the matter.
It was also learnt that the governors would soon get across to their representatives at the NA on the need to rectify the aspect of the Constitution which, they said, vested the states close to the oil wells on the high sea with getting the money alone.
One of the aides of a Northern governor, who pleaded anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the matter, said, “We will handle the matter in our own way and I can tell you that we will meet with our lawmakers at the federal level on this. We will also sensitise northern leaders and state lawmakers on this matter.
“We cannot say we are in the same country and some states will be having so much money to the extent of having excess and the other states would not be able to pay salaries.
“That is not the way to run a federation. Those who think that they can progress with the excess money in their pockets while others starve must now know that they are living in a fool’s paradise.
“With the advent of Boko Haram and other security challenges facing the country, we must all move together in unison and the best way to do this is to make sure that no one goes to bed on empty stomach while others keep excess food in their kitchens for their dogs and pets.”
Apart from the Northern governors, the foremost northern socio-political organisation, Arewa Consultative Forum, last week backed the call for a review of the federal revenue formula.
The ACF, which spoke through its National Publicity Secretary, Anthony Sani, said the ‘huge allocation’ to the South-South, home to Nigeria’s vast oil resources, was injustice.
Sani had told The PUNCH that the collection of derivation fund on offshore exploration could not be justified by the Niger Delta.
“What does your sense of justice tell you when an oil-producing state collects as much as N24bn per month from the Federation Account while a non-oil producing state collects about N4bn or even less per month? Does offshore exploration also degrade the farming environment in the Niger Delta?” he queried.
The South-South governors however replied that such a call smacked of insensitivity to the plight of the zone, evident in its over 50 years of marginalisation and environmental degradation and advised Northern governors to develop their revenue base as each state had a resource to develop.
Similarly, Niger Delta activists said states in the North should find ways of generating revenues to run their states as the region once did through groundnut pyramids, rather than seeking for more allocation from oil.
Describing themselves as the ‘goose that lays the golden egg,’ they asked the Northern governors to forget the idea.
SOURCE: The Punch, 4 March 2012. http://punchontheweb.com/
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