Nigeria’s 36 state governors are to meet President Muhammadu Buhari to discuss the need to present a new revenue formula to the Ninth National Assembly for passage into law before the end of his regime.
Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), Governor Aminu Tambuwal, disclosed this while speaking with journalists after the forum’s meeting on Wednesday in Abuja.
Mr Tambuwal said the governors discussed issues that bordered on national, sub-national, democracy and good governance, including the need for the timely release of the collected stamp duties warehoused in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for disbursement, revealing that “we are working to make sure that it is released for disbursements to both federal government and state.”
“Today, we discussed the guidelines by the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) on financial regulations that it is working on in ensuring that Nigeria is taken out of grey lists of the financial tax force. We also discussed the issue of the Primary Healthcare Seattle Declaration and the progress made so far,” stated the Sokoto governor.
Mr Tambuwal added, “During our induction course, some states that have attained some milestones are going to receive some awards for their performance. We discussed the new revenue formula submitted to Mr President by the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission (RMFC) and the need for us to approach Mr President on the need for him to present the new draft formula to National Assembly before this administration winds up.”
Fielding questions on details of the new draft revenue formula and if the forum was satisfied, Mr Tambuwal said the new formula details would be revealed when presented.
The Sokoto governor stated, “We are going to meet Mr President as the leadership of the forum, and we will appeal to him to present that draft revenue formula. By the time it is presented, you will see what is there.”
In his assessment of the NGF, Mr Tambuwal said the forum had helped the governors maintain cohesion, unity, and non-partisanship, ensuring that all they did was about Nigeria first and their various states.
“The NGF is actually doing well in terms of bringing governors together, working together for national interest, for the interests of the states,” he noted. “Making sure that there is that unity amongst governors on national issues. I believe NGF has done very well.”
(NAN)
