Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno state has tasked the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) to review the revenue sharing formula for the three tiers of governments. According to him, the review will diversify and increase Internally Generated Revenues (IGR) to execute projects and service delivery to the people. Speaking at the National Sensitisation Revenue Sharing Formula Friday in Maiduguri, he disclosed: “I’m happy to announce that in the last six months, we have witnessed 24 per cent increase in IGR.
Zulum; who was represented by the Chief of Staff, Prof. Isa Marte; attributed the increase to proactive measures against many years of leakages with the Treasury Single Account (TSA) for Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). He added that the rebranding of the Borno State Geographic Information Service (BOGIS) has increased the rates at which revenues were being collected with the automation of tax administration. According to him, with the dramatic increase in IGR, the revenue targets for 2022 would be N19 billion.
The Borno Chief Judge, Justice Kashim Zannah also demanded for an upward review of revenue sharing, as the State is the second largest in landmass and shares boundaries with Chad, Niger and Cameroon. He noted that as Lagos State Government could increase its monthly IGR from N1 billion in 1999 to N34 billion this year; Borno could also meet its revenue target for next year. The Federal Commissioner, representing the state on RMAFC, Alhaji Adamu Yuguda Dibal has said that the 1999 Constitution (as amended) empowers the Commission to regularly review the revenue allocation formula. According to him, the Commission with changing socioeconomic and political dynamics in the nation; has engaged stakeholders to fashion a new sharing formula. “Over the years there had been agitations of the people to review the revenue sharing formula for the 36 states,” he said.
He noted that the review was to fulfill the collective aspirations of the people for a contagious and sustainable development.“We’re to enlist interests of stakeholders to get informed inputs for the revenue sharing template,” he said. According to him, the template was to assist the commission for a fair, just and equitable revenue sharing formula for implementation in the 36 states. He therefore assured that the new revenue formula will meet the yearnings of the three tiers of government. “This is order to improve the state’s economy, despite the 12-year Boko Haram insurgency that claimed many lives and property,” he noted.
