Kayode Fayemi, governor of Ekiti
and chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), says it’s time for revenue
sharing formula to change.
The governor said this on Monday
while fielding questions from journalists at the state house in Abuja.
In the current revenue allocation
formula, the federal government gets 52.68%, states get 26.72% and local
governments, 20.60%.
In August, the federal government
had set up a committee to review the revenue sharing formula “due to current
economic realities”.
Standing on this, Fayemi said the
review had been long over due, as the two lower tiers of government were battling
additional responsibilities.
“A review of the revenue sharing
formula is still the position of the Nigeria’s Governors’ Forum. We feel that
it is time for the revenue sharing formula to change and we have made a
representation to the President and commander-in-chief,” he said.
“This is not just under the
Buhari administration; this has been an ongoing agitation that started way back
since the time of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. It continued during
former President Umar Yar’Adua and former President Goodluck Jonathan. So, it isnot
just something that has been brought out under President Buhari.
“The process is that Revenue
Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) will do its own due
diligence, consult widely with critical stakeholders; and we have also made
available our own representation to RMAFC.
“Every state has a representative
at RMAFC as you know and only last week, RMAFC held a retreat on this and other
matters and I believe they will communicate the position.
“Now that we have a full-fledged
RMAFC in place with a Chairman and other members appointed, it is our
expectation that this will be taken up by RMAFC with Mr President in a manner
that we have taken it up.”
When asked if the states would
not pay the N30,000 minimum wage until the revenue sharing formula was
reviewed, Fayemi said some states were already paying, since it is a law.
He, however, noted that some
states needed to conclude the negotiations on consequential adjustments before
paying.
“The minimum wage is a law. But,
a National Minimum Wage Act is not a
general minimum wage review. They are two separate things,” he said
“Governors are committed to the
minimum wage act and no one is going to pay anything less than N30, 000. Some
of us have started paying N30, 000 as you may be aware, others want
negotiations on the consequential adjustments to end before they start paying
the minimum wage.”
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