In order to discuss the necessity of presenting a new income formula to the 9th National Assembly for enactment into law before the end of his term, the 36 state governors will meet with President Muhammadu Buhari.
Gov. Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State, the chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), made this revelation to reporters after the forum’s meeting on Wednesday in Abuja.
The necessity for the prompt release of the collected stamp duties stored in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for disbursement was mentioned by Tambuwal as one of the topics that the governors discussed that touched on national, sub-national, democratic, and good governance concerns.
“Today, we discussed the guidelines by the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) on financial regulations that it is working on in ensuring that Nigeria is taken out of grey lists of the financial tax force.
“We also discussed the issue of the Primary Healthcare Seattle Declaration and the progress made so far. During our induction course, some states that have attained some milestones are going to receive some awards for their performance.
“We discussed the new revenue formula submitted to Mr President by the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission (RMFC) and the need for us to approach Mr President on the need for him to present the new draft formula to National Assembly before this administration winds up.
“We also discussed the issue of stamp duties that have been held, by both the Federal Government and the states that are warehoused in the Central Bank of Nigeria.
“We are working to make sure that it is released for disbursements to both federal government and state,” Tambuwal said.
Fielding questions on details of the new draft revenue formula and if the forum was satisfied with it, Tambuwal said the details of the new formula would be revealed when presented.
“We are going to meet Mr President as the leader of the forum and we will appeal to him to present that draft revenue formula. By the time it is presented, you will see what is there.”
In his assessment of the NGF, Tambuwal said that the forum had helped the governors in maintaining cohesion, unity, and non-partisanship, making sure that all that they did was about Nigeria first and their various states.
“The NGF is actually doing well in terms of bringing governors together, working together for national interest, for the interests of the states.
“Making sure that there is that unity amongst governors on national issues. I believe NGF has done very well.”