The House of Representatives has urged the Federal Government of Nigeria to submit without further delay the report of the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission, RMAFC, to the National Assembly for legislative action.
This was sequel to a motion brought before it at Wednesday June 9, plenary by the Minority Leader of the House, Hon. Ndudi Elumelu.
The House in adopting the motion,also invited the Chairman and Commissioners of the RMAFC to appear before its Finance Committee to explain further on the reason for the delay.
Moving the motion which was seconded by Hon. Gideon Gwani, representing kaura Federal Constituency of Kaduna State, Hon. Elumelu noted section 162(2) of the 1999 constitution as amended and said that the section explicitly provided that the President shall after receiving the report of the commission, should forward same to the National Assembly.
He Further noted that the same section 162 (2) of the constitution provided among other things; 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 per cent of the revenue accruing to the Federation Account directly from any natural resources.”
Elumelu revealed that the revenue sharing proposals have been sent to the President countless times and yet none of this proposals have ever been brought to the National Assembly for legislative approval.
He further noted that revenue sharing remains one of the key issues vital to resolving the sharing formula issues, and true fiscal federalism.
The Federal lawmaker stated that the continuous disregard for the constitutional provision, has a way of upsetting national peace as well as creating fiscal inequity.
The motion was extensively debated and unanimously adopted by the House.
The Finance Committee was given 4 weeks to report to the House after meeting with the Chairman and Commissioners of RMAFC.
