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This was the message five state governors handed down to the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) in Abuja on Tuesday when they met with its Chairman, Hamman A. Tukur. Also in attendance were RMAFC's Secretary, Elizabeth B. P. Erurem and federal commissioners representing the various states.
Governors Ibrahim Skekarau (Kano), Isa Yuguda (Bauchi), Babatunde Fashola (Lagos), Celestine Omehia (Rivers), and Gabriel Suswam (Benue), are all members of the Governors Forum's Committee on Revenue Sharing.
They were at the Fiscal Commission's office to tell the body, which is in charge of revenue mobilisation and fixing of wages of political office holders the decision of the 36 states governors on the issue.
Led by the committee's chairman, Governor Shekarau, the governors also demanded from the Fiscal Commission other sources of revenue that accrue to the Federation Account besides oil money and how judiciously these revenues had been shared overtime.
The Minister of State in the Federal Ministry of Finance is the current Chairman of the Federation Allocation and Accounts Committee (FAAC) which meets every month to share revenue accruing to the three tiers.
The Secretary of the body is the Accountant-General of the Federation. (AGF)
Other members of the body apart from states finance commissioners and their accountants-general are all chief executives of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC); Customs and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).
They form the technical group at the forum where revenue generated by them is declared and the cost of generating such revenue is discounted from the poll before eventual sharing among the three tiers.
The Fiscal Commission has already filed a suit against the Federal Government over the practice in which the Customs and the FIRS received seven per cent and four per cent of the revenue they generated by the Federal Government last year.
Speaking with newsmen after the closed-door meeting with the Fiscal Commission, Shekarau pointed out that the revenue that accrues into the Federation Account was supposed to be shared by an impartial umpire, since the three tiers of the government of Nigeria were of equal standing.
He said: "Mr. President is the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria who incidentally happens to be the head of the Federal Government. So all these should be clearly understood, "he stated.
Shekarau added: "We now want an impartial umpire, which would now make sure the Federal Government, the states and local governments have their own fair share. What we have now is an Accountant-General of the Federation. He is an Accountant-General of the Federal Government and at the same time operating as Accountant-General of the Federation. So he is a party to the sharing."
Shekarau declared that the Accountant-General was an interested party because "he keeps the money of the Federal Government, he oversees and operates the money of the Federal Government. He therefore cannot be the one to oversee the sharing of what he is also a party in this share."
Shekarau suggested that the Revenue Mobilisation Commission would be a better alternative to do the job.
"But let's all agree on who should be an impartial umpire in this sharing," he maintained.
The governors also believe that there are other monies that accrue to the Federation Account in addition to the sale of oil, which people are not mentioning. "We want to know the other indices, the other monies that accrue into the account because we get beclouded by the oil money and forget other sources of income."
The governor added: "We want to insist that everything be done in accordance with the provisions of the law, the constitutional provision and the revenue sharing formula."
Shekarau was accompanied to the Commission by Governor Isa Yuguda.
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