The governors of the 36 states of the federation have proposed a new revenue sharing formula which would be presented to President Muhammadu Buhari.
Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) and Sokoto State governor, Aminu Tambuwal, who disclosed this after the forum’s meeting on Wednesday night in Abuja.
He said they would ask the president to present the new proposal to the National Assembly for consideration before the end of his administration.
The Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) had last year presented the report on the review of the vertical revenue allocation formula to President Buhari.
In the new formula proposed, 45.17% is for the Federal Government, 29.79% for states, and 21.04% for LGAs.
Tambuwal said he and his colleagues also discussed the financial regulations, primary healthcare and the need for Nigeria to be taken off the grey list of the Financial Task Force, with the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit’s guidelines on financial regulation being a key topic.
According to Sokoto governor, the forum also reviewed progress made in primary healthcare, with some states set to receive awards for their achievements.
Another issue the governors discussed, according to Tambuwal, is the stamp duties owed both the Federal and State Governments, adding that they were working to ensure that these were released for disbursement.
Tambuwal said the forum has achieved a lot in terms of maintaining unity and non-partisanship, with a focus on Nigeria first and their individual states as second.
He said, “It’s nothing unusual. It’s a normal meeting of governors where we discussed issues concerning the country, the sub-nationals and of course, democracy and good governance.
“Today, we discussed the guidelines by the NFIU on financial regulation that is working on how to ensure that Nigeria is taken out of the grey list of the Financial Task Force.
“We also discussed the issue of primary healthcare and the progress made so far during our induction course. Some states that have attained some milestones are going to receive awards for their performance.
“We also discussed the new revenue formula submitted to Mr President by the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission and the need for us to approach Mr President on the need for him to present the new draft formula to the National Assembly before this administration winds up.
“We also discussed the issue of stamp duties being owed to both the Federal Government and the states and warehoused by the Central Bank and we are working to make sure that it is released for disbursement to both the Federal Government and the states.
“As a forum and an institution of governance that we inherited from our leaders, the past governors; I believe that a lot of achievements have been made, particularly as we made sure that we maintain and unity the cohesion, the non-partisanship of this platform and making sure that in all that we do, it is about Nigeria first and of course, our various states.
“We are going to meet with Mr President as a forum and we’ll appeal to him to present that formula to the National Assembly. We will see,” he stated.
