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B N W: Biafra Nigeria World News |
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States entitled to share of excess crude fund � RMAFC bossSULAYMON ABDULKAREEMChairman of Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Alhaji Hamman Tukur on Tuesday in Lagos said the 36 states and their local governments are entitled to share the excess revenue realised from crude oil. The Budget 2004 had been predicated on $25 per barrel of crude, but the price overshot that mark and even rose to an all-time high of $41 before settling down now at $38. Tukur, who was the guest lecturer at the third yearly public lecture of the Lagos State House of Assembly, in a 54-page lecture titled: Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Efficiency: Strategies for enhanced mobilisation and optimal utilisation towards efficient service delivery at state and local government level,� said the excess funds would go a long way in financing some of the states deficit. He said the budgets of all the states were based on the $23 per barrel benchmark, saying that �with the adoption of $25 by the National budget, all state governments and their local governments were expected to share the $2 excess funds.� Tukur, however, added that the commission has not been receiving the expected level of cooperation from states and local governments to enable it contribute meaningfully to their pre-budget preliminaries, stressing that the Lagos State Government was one of the culprits. He noted that the raging controversies about the fate of the large excess crude revenues amounting to billions of naira, would have to be resolved through dialogue among the beneficiaries of the Federal Account in the spirit of the current democratic dispensation. He pointed out that the ministry of Finance had recommended $23 per barrel crude oil price benchmark before the commission through its own analysis and forecast based on past trends and current global realities disclosed that prices of current oil may not deteriorate below $28 per barrel. He stated that the commission�s role in the 2004 Budget was to examine national revenue profile such that the revenues of all tiers of governments could be substantially increased from proceeds of the Federation Account. The chairman stated that it was in this context that for the 2004 Budget, the ministry of Finance recommended crude oil price benchmark of $23 per barrel, stressing that the commission recommended $26 per barrel but the National Assembly finally adopted $25 per barrel against the $23 proposal by the Federal Government. According to him, �the current happenings in the international market have indeed, vindicated the commission.� He declared that at present local governments in the country were finding it difficult to operate as third-tier of government because of the limited funding, stressing that, �this will be further exacerbated by the creation of new local governments.� He maintained that the sheer high overhead cost of running 774 local governments had almost crippled the capacity of local governments to deliver social services to the people, saying this would be worsened when the number of local governments was increased as already being done by most state governments. The Lagos State Governor, Alhaji Bola Tinubu, while declaring the lecture open, canvassed for a new law on the revenue sharing formula. He said the commission had done its bit to send a new revenue sharing formula to the Federal Government, saying: �It is left for the Federal Government to follow it. I have no apology for advocating for Fiscal Federalism for the survival of democracy in the country,� he said.
Wednesday, June 30, 2004 |
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