Chinyere Anyanwu

The Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has said it will review the remuneration of political office holders in 2020 to reflect current realities in the country. 

This is even as it said it has been instrumental to the recovery of over N75 billion from revenue collection agencies on behalf of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS).

The Commission’s Chairman, Elias Mbam, made the disclosures yesterday, at the retreat organised for the management and new members of the Commission in Lagos. The retreat with the theme, “Consolidating the RMAFC for Greater Efficiency: Issues, Expectations and Way Forward,” was designed to familiarise and equip members on the operations and responsibilities of the Commission as well as prepare them to deliver efficiently on their mandate and contribute to nation building.

Speaking during the retreat, Mbam said, “the commission has also programmed to review the remuneration of political office holders in 2020 to reflect current realities. The Commission shall continue to support and promote diversification programme of government.

“In this regard, I implore government at all levels to continue to support agricultural development and invest in the development of the solid minerals as means of diversifying the sources of revenue in order to meet the increasing expenditure requirement of governance and development.”

He stated that in compliance with President Muhammadu Buhari’s charge to the Commission, while inaugurating the new members, to employ all legal means to strengthen its monitoring mechanism to block all revenue leakages to the federation account, it has “carried out reconciliation and verification of revenue collections from revenue collecting agencies on behalf of FIRS and NCS,” adding that, “over N75 billion has been recovered in the process.”

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Also speaking on the occasion, the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-olu, urged the Commission to look more critically at some of the parameters being used to determine revenue allocated to each state and local government.

Sanwo-olu who said the population of the state stands at 22 million, noted that, “to achieve the levels of development that Nigeria needs, we require significantly greater levels of revenue. In Lagos, we would like to see a review that more accurately reflects existing national and sub-national realities.”

He said, “I would like to applaud RMAFC for the seriousness with which you are considering the planned review of the country’s revenue sharing formula. The issue of revenue allocation and determining an equitable and just revenue sharing  formula has taken prominence in recent years as a result of the agitation for a more balanced allocation formula that reflects current realities and the responsibilities shouldered by each tier of government.”

The governor stressed that population density should be a major parameter in determining a fair and just revenue formula.

For his part, the Secretary to Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, who was represented at the occasion by the Permanent Secretary, Political and Economic Affairs, OSGF, Mr. Gabriel Aduda, called on the commission to increase its efforts in “ensuring that all revenues generated are monitored and promptly remitted into the federation account as provided by relevant laws and guidelines.”

He also urged the commission to “beef up its advisory role to the three tiers of government on improving their revenue drives and to also ensure that the remuneration of political and public office holders in the country are reasonable and sustainable.”