Leke Baiyewu
10 June 2021
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The House of Representatives has accused the Presidency of failing to forward successive reports by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission on revenue allocation to the National Assembly.
At the plenary on Wednesday, the House asked the Federal Government to forward the latest report by the RMAFC to the parliament for legislative approval as required by law.
The Minority Leader, Ndudi Elumelu, made the call in a motion that was unanimously adopted by the lawmakers.
The motion was titled, ‘Need for the Federal Government to submit the report of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission to the National Assembly’.
Elumelu noted that Section 162 (2) of the 1999 Constitution explicitly provided that the president should after receiving the report of the commission forward the same to the National Assembly.
Section 162 (2) reads, “The president, upon the receipt of advice from the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, shall table before the National Assembly proposals for revenue allocation from the Federation Account;
“And in determining the formula, the National Assembly shall take into account, the allocation principles especially those of population, equality of states, internal revenue generation, land mass, terrain as well as population density, provided that the principle of derivation shall be constantly reflected in any approved formula as being not less than thirteen (13) per cent of the revenue accruing to the Federation Account directly from any natural resources.”
The minority leader said, “The House is aware that revenue sharing proposals have been sent to the president countless times and, yet, none of these proposals have ever been brought to the National Assembly for legislative approval.
“The House is further aware that revenue sharing is one of the key issues that is vital to resolving the sharing formula issues and true fiscal federalism.
“The House is concerned that the continuous disregard for this constitution provision, upsets national peace and creates fiscal inequity.”