Party Urges Review Of Revenue Sharing Formula

The Progressive Action Congress (PAC) has called on the National Assembly to review the way revenue is shared amongst the three tiers of government.

The national chairman of the party, Chief Charles Nwodo, made the call in a telephone interview  in Abuja on Tuesday.

Nwodo said the review of revenue sharing formula in Nigeria could not succeed without reviewing the devolution of powers amongst the three tiers of government in the spirit of fiscal federalism.

He said the review had become necessary because “ as things stand today, the country is operating a mere quasi-federalism that is more of a unitary system of government than a Federal system’’.

“ We believe that the state should be responsible for education, agriculture, works, health and others, while the federal should be concerned more with policies like foreign affairs, defence and monitoring.

“ If more powers are devolved to the states and local governments, more revenue should be allocated to them as well to enable them function properly.”

Nwodo suggested that the centre should be decongested to “limit the high level of corruption, desperate struggle for power as well as stabilise the polity’’.

The party chieftain said the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) should also carry out an in depth study and opinion gathering before embarking on revenue sharing.

He added that the RMAFC’s activities should also be subjected to debate before the NASS with the view to carrying the people along.

Nwodo said that the last review carried out with the fixing of salaries and emolument of political office holders was not in line with the reality on ground as it had resulted in a voluntary cut in the allowances of NASS members and the President.

The party chairman urged NASS to revisit the unilateral powers given to RMAFC to fix the revenue and salaries of political office holders.