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Buhari Receives RMAFC’ Revenue Sharing Formula, States, LGs Get More

Published

4 years ago

April 8, 2022

Editor

The Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission has finally presented the report of the review of the vertical revenue allocation formula to the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari, (retd.) after failing to meet the 2021 deadline.

Last year, the Chairman of the commission, Elias Mbam, said the report would be presented to the president by December 31, 2021. However, the commission failed to meet this deadline.

New formula proposes 45.17% for FG, 29.79% for states, 21.04% for LGAs

The Chairman of the commission announced on Thursday that the proposed vertical revenue allocation formula advised 45.17 per cent for the Federal Government, 29.79 per cent for state governments and 21.04 per cent for the local governments.

Under Special Funds, he said the report by the commission recommended 1.0 per cent for Ecology, 0.5 per cent for Stabilisation, 1.3 per cent for Development of Natural Resources, and 1.2 per cent for the FCT.

The old revenue formula was designed during the tenure of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Under this new formula, the Federal Government gets 52.68 per cent, the 36 states get 26.72 per cent while the 774 local government areas in the country share 20.60 per cent every month.

The proposed formula, therefore, suggested an upward review for states and local governments, but a downward review for the Federal Government.

In arriving at the new vertical revenue allocation formula, Mbam told the President the commission had consulted widely with major stakeholders, public hearings in all the geo-political zones, administered questionnaires and studied some other federations with similar fiscal arrangements like Nigeria to draw useful lessons from their experiences.

He added that literature reviews were conducted on revenue allocation formula in Nigeria dating back to pre-independence period while the commission received memoranda from the public sectors, individuals and private institutions across the country.

Explaining the major reasons for the exercise, Mbam noted that since the last review was conducted in 1992, 29 years ago, the political structure of the country had changed with the creation of six additional states in 1996, which brought the number of states to 36.

Correspondingly, he said, the number of local governments councils also increased from 589 to 774.

‘‘There have been considerable changes arising from the policy reforms that altered the relative share of responsibilities of the various tiers of Government such as deregulation, privatization and the lingering controversies over funding of primary education, primary healthcare,’’ he said.

I’ll await constitution review process—Buhari

MeanwhilePresident Muhammadu Buhari, Thursday, in Abuja said he would await the final outcome of the constitutional review process before presenting the report of the review of the vertical revenue allocation formula to the National Assembly as a bill for enactment.

The President stated this while receiving the report by the RMAFC, led by Elias Mbam.

According to a statement signed on Thursday by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, Buhari said ‘‘Ordinarily, I would have gone ahead to table this report before the National Assembly as a bill for enactment.

“However, since the review of the vertical revenue allocation formula is a function of the roles and responsibilities of the different tiers of government, I will await the final outcome of the constitutional review process, especially as some of the proposed amendments would have a bearing on the recommendations contained herein.”

The President who lamented that the present revenue allocation formula has not been reviewed since the last exercise carried out in 1992, said ‘‘Considering the changing dynamics of our political-economy, such as privatisation, deregulation, funding arrangement of primary education, Primary Health Care and the growing clamour for decentralisation among others; it is necessary that we take another look at our Revenue Sharing Formula, especially the vertical aspects that relate to the tiers of government.

‘‘This becomes more compelling as we need to reduce our infrastructural deficit, make more resources available for tackling insecurity, confront climate change and its associated global warming and make life more meaningful for our rapid growing population.’’

The President assured members of the commission that the Federal Government would immediately subject the report to its internal review and approval processes, while awaiting the finaliSation of the efforts by the National Assembly.

He commended the RMAFC for a job painstakingly done, pledging his unwavering commitment and support to them in carrying out their constitutional mandates.

In his remarks, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, said the RMAFC followed due process in undertaking the exercise, and sought the opinion of the Federal Government before finalising the report.

Mustapha said that it was in four volumes, including a summary in the main report.

On his part, Mbam said the leading philosophy behind the proposed review was guided ‘‘by the need for distributive justice, equity and fairness as enshrined in relevant Sections of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).’’

PUNCH.

Headline

Afghanistan-Pakistan Border Clashes Escalate After Alleged Air Strikes

Published

10 hours ago

October 11, 2025

Editor

Afghanistan’s Taliban forces launched armed reprisals against Pakistani soldiers along the shared border on Saturday, accusing Islamabad of carrying out air strikes on its soil, senior officials from several provinces said Saturday.

On Thursday, two explosions were heard in the Afghan capital and another in the southeast of the country. The following day, the Taliban-run defence ministry blamed the attacks on Pakistan, accusing its neighbor of violating its sovereignty.

“In retaliation for air strikes carried out by the Pakistani army on Kabul,” Taliban forces are engaged “in heavy clashes against Pakistani security forces in various areas” along the border, the Afghan military said in a statement.

Islamabad did not confirm that it was behind Thursday’s attacks, but called on Kabul “to stop harbouring the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) on its soil.”

The TTP, trained in combat in Afghanistan and claiming to share the same ideology as the Afghan Taliban, is accused by Islamabad of having killed hundreds of its soldiers since 2021.

Taliban officials from Kunar, Nangarhar, Paktia, Khost, and Helmand provinces — all located on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan — confirmed that clashes were ongoing.

“This evening, Taliban forces began using weapons. We fired first light and then heavy artillery at four points along the border,” a senior official in Pakistan’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, bordering Afghanistan, told AFP.

“Pakistani forces responded with heavy fire and shot down three Afghan quadcopters suspected of carrying explosives. Intense fighting continues, but so far, no casualties have been reported,” he continued.

– Uptick in violence –

In recent months, TTP militants have intensified their campaign of violence against Pakistani security forces in the mountainous areas bordering Afghanistan.

Islamabad accuses Afghanistan of failing to expel militants who use Afghan territory to launch attacks on Pakistan, an accusation denied by authorities in Kabul.

The TTP and its affiliates are behind most of the violence — largely directed at security forces.

Earlier this year, a UN report said the TTP “receive substantial logistical and operational support from the de facto authorities”, referring to the Taliban government in Kabul.

Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told parliament on Thursday that several efforts to convince the Afghan Taliban to stop backing the TTP had failed.

“We will not tolerate this any longer,” Asif said. “United, we must respond to those facilitating them, whether the hideouts are on our soil or Afghan soil.”

Earlier Saturday, the TTP claimed responsibility for deadly attacks in several districts in northwest Pakistan that killed 20 security officials and three civilians.

AFP

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Taliban Attacks Kill 23 In Northwestern Pakistan

Published

15 hours ago

October 11, 2025

Editor

The Pakistani Taliban on Saturday claimed responsibility for deadly attacks in several northwestern districts that killed 20 security officials and three civilians.

The attacks, which included a suicide bombing on a police training school, were carried out on Friday in several districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that borders Afghanistan.

Militancy has surged in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since the withdrawal of US-led troops from neighbouring Afghanistan in 2021 and the return of the Taliban government in Kabul.

Eleven paramilitary troops were killed in the border Khyber district, while seven policemen were killed after a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden car into the gate of a police training school, which was followed by a gun attack.

Five people, including three civilians, were killed in a separate clash in Bajaur district, security officials told AFP on Saturday.

The Pakistani Taliban, the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attacks in messages on social media. The group is separate from but closely linked with the Afghan Taliban.

The attacks came hours after Afghanistan’s Taliban government accused Pakistan of “violating Kabul’s sovereign territory”, a day after two explosions were heard in the capital.

Pakistan did not say if it was behind the blasts in Kabul, but said it had the right to defend itself against surging border militancy.

Islamabad accuses Afghanistan of failing to expel militants using Afghan territory to launch attacks on Pakistan, an accusation that authorities in Kabul deny.

The TTP and its affiliates are behind most of the violence — largely directed at security forces.

Including Friday’s attacks, at least 32 Pakistani troops and three civilians have been killed this week alone in the border regions.

AFP

Headline

US Threatens To Sanction Countries That Vote For Shipping Carbon Tax

Published

15 hours ago

October 11, 2025

Editor

The United States on Friday threatened to impose sanctions and take other punitive action against any country that votes in favor of a carbon tax on maritime transportation to be implemented through a UN agency.

“We will fight hard to protect our economic interests by imposing costs on countries if they support” the Net Zero Framework, said a joint statement by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his counterparts at the departments of energy and transportation.

Members of the London-based International Maritime Organization (IMO) are set to vote next week on the adoption of the Net Zero Framework (NZF) agreement aimed at reducing global carbon emissions from the shipping sector.

Washington, however, described the proposal as imposing “a global carbon tax on the world.”

Since returning to power in January, US President Donald Trump has reversed Washington’s course on climate change, denouncing it as a “scam” and encouraging fossil fuel use by deregulation.

In the statement, Rubio, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the Trump administration “unequivocally rejects” the NZF proposal.

They threatened a range of punishing actions against countries that vote in favor of the framework, including: visa restrictions; blocking vessels registered in those countries from US ports; imposing commercial penalties; and considering sanctions on officials.

“The United States will be moving to levy these remedies against nations that sponsor this European-led neocolonial export of global climate regulations,” the statement said.