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Input by LG chairmen stalls new revenue formula
Chijama Ogbu
The demand by the elected chairmen of local government councils for their input to be put into the revenue formula coupled with fresh data from federal revenue agencies has stalled the release of the proposed formula which the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission had planned to re-submit to President Olusegun Obasanjo in July.
Our correspondent learnt that some of the elected chairmen had made representations to RMAFC wherein they raised fresh submissions, which they wanted the commission to build into the formula before re-submitting.
Besides, some revenue agencies especially the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Federal Inland Revenue Service, it was learnt, had submitted fresh data bordering on new income profile and expenditure patterns of government that could change some indices used in arriving at the formula.
This development has put the RMAFC in a dilemma as to whether to submit the final draft which is almost ready or to bend backwards to accommodate the input of the elected chairmen and reflect the new revenue/ expenditure data from the revenue agencies.
As a result of this, the RMAFC will hold a plenary session in August to weigh the options and determine the way forward.
A commissioner in RMAFC, who spoke to our correspondent on phone on a condition of anonymity, said that the chairmen argued that since the persons the commission consulted as representatives of local governments were transition chairmen who were not elected, they did not represent the views of the people in the LGs especially as they were surrogates of the governors, who are interested party in the formula.
The commissioner said that their arguments appeared convincing since the revenue body had consulted with the Federal Government and the Governor�s Forum before arriving at the formula.
What added weight to their argument, he said, was the attitude of most state governors to revenues that accrue to the Local Government Areas from the Federation Account, which indicated that they were more disposed to seeing the LGCs shortchanged.
But he added that the commission was not prepared to further delay the formula which release the various stakeholders had been clamouring for.
According to him, the view of most of the commissioners was that they would only accommodate what would not cause much delay in the release of the formula while ensuring that all stakeholders were satisfied with the end product.
�What we try to do is not to shut out any view, but to look at all the factors, all the views. We will make sure that everything is okay to avoid grumbling from any quarters,� he said.
When our correspondent contacted the spokesman for the RMAFC, Alhaji Yushua Shuaib, he said that the formula would be out soon.
He said the commission was fine-tuning the formula, which it had been working on to ensure objectivity and fairness to all concerned.
Obasanjo had in a letter to the commission in December 2003 asked for the review of the formula to address what he felt were salient points omitted in the original draft.
The President had earlier written to the National Assembly withdrawing the formula which RMAFC submitted through him in December 2002, alleging that there existed several versions of the formula, which made it difficult to identify the original submission by the commission.
The Punch, Friday July 30, 2004
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