Lawan makes case for better funding of RMAFC

By Musa Baba Adamu

The President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan has made a strong case for a better funding arrangement for the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission(RMAFC).

Lawan spoke in Abuja while playing host to RMAFC members led by the chairman, Alhaji Mohammed Bello Shehu who complained of poor funding of the Commission.

The Senate President suggested a forum “where all the three tiers of government will be represented and a major decision has to be taken that RMAFC should be funded better.

“Definitely there has to be a conscious effort at pulling some reasonable and significant resources for RMAFC to be able to perform.

“At  the moment, it’s only what the Federal Government gives. That is shortchanging RMAFC because it is supposed to have resources also from the states and Local Government.”

Lawan said the relevant Senate Committee would look into the matter with a view to reviewing the situation to see how the other tiers of government could participate in the funding of the commission.

The Senate President said the major issue confronting the government is how to mobilise resources or revenues and tasked the Commission on blocking all leakages.

“We have to look at all the possible areas of leakage and work hard to block them. Where we are not covering enough, we have to step out. RMAFC knows where we have to collect these revenues.

“Today, they will tell you that the problem of Nigeria is revenue. Yet we sit on top of wealth and revenues. If you look at our solid mineral sector, it is something that can fetch us a lot of revenues but maybe because of the oil and gas, we are not giving it any serious attention,” the Senate President said.

Earlier, RNAFC chairman, Alhaji Mohammed Bello Shehu lamented the poor funding of the Commission and lack of powers of enforcement and sanctions.

He said: “Poor funding is a major challenge that has directly affected the efficient operations and performance of the Commission.

“The Commission is poorly funded through an enveloping system of the Bugdet Office under the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget, and National Planning. This inhibits the Commission from discharging it’s constitutional responsibility efficiently.

“The Commission is the creation of the Constitution to oversee the affairs of three tiers of government. It is therefore an aberration to be funded by a tier of government through enveloping system.

“The implication is that the Commission is at the mercy of the Federal Ministry of Finance for funding. The Federal Ministry of Finance is one of the government ministries that the Commission is statutorily mandated to monitor.”