Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State, on Wednesday, disclosed that Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has submitted the draft of the new revenue formula allocation for the approval of the 36 State Governments.
Tambuwal, who is one of the 17 outgoing Governors, confirmed this during a Media Chat at the end of the first physical meeting of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) held in Abuja.
He also hinted on plans to ensure the timely release of multi-billion naira warehoused by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
When asked about the details of the closed door meeting which lasted for over three hours, he said: “It’s nothing unusual, it’s the normal meeting of Governors where we discuss issues concerning the country, the Subnational and of course democracy and Good governance.
“But today, we’ve discussed about the guidelines about the NFIU about financial regulations that it’s working on, and how to ensure that Nigeria is taking out of the grey list of the Financial Task Force.
“And we also discussed about the primary healthcare and…Declaration, the progress made so far.
“During our induction course, some states that have attained some milestones are going to receive some awards for their performance.
“And we also discussed about the new revenue formulary submitted to Mr. President by Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission and the need to really approach Mr. President on the need to present the new draft formular to the National Assembly before this administration winds up.
“We also discussed issue about the Stamp Duties that are being owed to both the Federal Government and the States that is warehoused in the Central Bank and we are working to make sure that that is being released for disbursement to both Federal Government and the States. So these are some of the issues we have discussed,” he said.
When asked about the details of the new draft revenue formular and whether the Governors are satisfied with the RMAFC work, Governor Tambuwal said: “we are going to meet Mr. President as the leadership of the Forum and we will appeal to him to present that draft revenue formular.
“By the time it’s presented, you’ll see what is there.”
In his assessment of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Tambuwal noted that as an Institution established to promote good governance, the Forum has performed creditably well.
“For me, as a Forum and an Institution of Governors that we inherited from our former Leaders, past Governors, I believe that a lot of achievements have been made particularly in making sure that we maintain the cohesion and the unity of Governors, the non-partisanship of this platform and making sure that in all that we do, it’s all about Nigeria first and then our various States.”
While noting that the 5th meeting of the Forum in 2023 was attended by only the serving Governors, he maintained that the Forum has been able to bring all the 36 State Governors together, “working for national interest, for the interests of the States, and making sure that there’s that unity among Governors on national issues. I believe NGF has done very well.”
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