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  • Nigeria’s 63rd Independence: RMAFC tasks citizens on tax compliance

    Nigeria’s 63rd Independence: RMAFC tasks citizens on tax compliance

    Mr Muhammed Shehu, Chairman, Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), has tasked Nigerian on compliance with the payment of taxes to boost revenue generation in the country.

    Shehu gave the charge in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja in commemoration of Nigeria’s 63rd Independence Anniversary.

    He urged Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) alongside private business owners to remit to the Federal Government coffers as and when due to avoid sanctions.

    Shehu said that revenues generated from payment of taxes would be utilised for better services and infrastructural development in the country for the benefit of all citizens.

    The chairman reiterated the need to enlarge the nation’s tax base, adding that barely less than 40 million Nigerians pay taxes.

    Read Also: RMAFC suspends action on salary raise for political office holders

    According to him, this is low for a country with high population.

    “The federal government and tiers of the federation are concerned with how to make more revenue by blocking leakages,” he said.

    While reflecting on Nigeria’s years of existence, Shehu said that the country’s 63rd Independence Day Anniversary was a significant milestone.

    He added that it was time for Nigerians to look back on the progress made and the challenges confronting the nation since its independence.

    “Nigeria gained independence from British colonial rule on Oct. 1, 1960. Since then, the country has made significant strides in various aspects of development, including politics, economy, culture, and more.

    “It is a time to honour the sacrifices and contributions of those who fought for Nigeria’s independence and to appreciate the diverse cultures and traditions that make the country unique.

    “It is also an opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to unity, peace, and progress as Nigeria continues its journey forward,” he said.

    (NAN)

  • Sacrifice needed

    Sacrifice needed

    • Fat pension for ex-govs in new political jobs is incongruous with state of economy

    Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) Chairman Mohammed Shehu lately revisited the practice whereby former state governors who take up fresh appointment as senators or ministers yet draw huge pensions from their states. He said houses of assembly should amend respective pension law to suspend such pensions, especially to ex-governors who find immediate employment in political offices where they draw full salaries and allowances.

    In an interview with Sunday Vanguard, the revenue commission boss said: “A person who has served as governor either for four or eight years as the case may be, then goes on to become senator or minister shouldn’t be earning double from public coffers. Many states have laws that provide generous pensions for former governors and these same people become senators or ministers and still collect salaries and other benefits in their new roles, this shouldn’t be the case.”

    Many of the 36 states nationwide have enacted laws giving fat pensions to their ex-helmsmen and deputies. From the Public Office Holder (Payment of Pension) Law, 2007, of Lagos State that is among the earliest, other states have joined the train. The laws typically prescribe huge sums in allowances, mansions in Abuja and respective state, vehicle fleets and exotic furniture renewable at short intervals, besides paid medical expenses and vacations abroad for the former governors and their family members. These are in addition to provision for support staff like cooks and drivers. Many of these laws are in states that can ill-afford to pay workers’ salaries with regularity, much less pensions of retired workforce. Among them also are states that have been unable to implement the national minimum wage of N30,000.

    Some states in recent history pushed for even more outlandish benefits. In the Enugu Gubernatorial Pension Bill, 2021 that scaled first reading in the state assembly before it was suspended amidst public uproar, there was provision for post-humous expenses of an ex-governor / deputy, including financial responsibility for their burial and “a condolence allowance of a sum equivalent to the annual basic salary of the incumbent to the next of kin.” And in Benue State, the house of assembly mid-last year passed an executive bill proposed by the administration of former Governor Samuel Ortom to provide bogus life pension for ex-governors and deputies. The catch is, the bill was passed after the assembly temporarily called off suspension of their constitutional functions owing to huge salary arrears owed them by the Ortom administration, but which the administration managed to partly defray. Not that it was a worthwhile deal, though, because then incoming Governor Hyacinth Alia indicated disinterest in implementing the law.

    Read Also: PTAD, NHIA to provide pensioners health insurance

    In his Vanguard interview, Shehu said it was a disservice to states for ex-helmsmen in other political jobs to be drawing fat pensions and it would contribute to economic well-being of the states, even if marginally, to suspend such benefits. Besides, both the legality and morality of the arrangement are questionable. It can be argued that pension is a legitimate due of every worker and there’s no law barring ex-governors or deputies from earning such due after leaving office. But RMAFC is the body constitutionally empowered to fix remunerations for political office holders, and it provides only for payment of 300 percent basic salary as severance allowances. While there is not much the commission can do about state pensions laws because they were statutorily enacted, the  laws are blatantly self-servicing and in many cases at dire odds with economic health of affected states.

    The morality of the pension laws is far more contestable. In conventional wisdom, you are either pensioned or you are working, you cannot be both a pensioner and an active worker simultaneously – which is what the ex-governors effectively are. Even if they make do with 300 percent of basic salary severance pay that RMAFC approves, a 2019 Court of Appeal judgment declared payment of severance allowances to elected or appointed public office holders morally wrong. The court, in a verdict on an appeal filed by the Kogi State Government, said the fact that elected public office holders and political appointees were paid huge sums as monthly salaries and other allowances while in office made it morally wrong for them to demand gratuity or severance allowance for holding such office for only few years, whereas career civil servants who served their country / states / local governments all their lives were subjected to contributory pension schemes by which they contribute part of their meagre monthly salaries that are always paid in arrears while in service, to be able to earn pension and gratuity upon retirement.

    In 2020, Lagos Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu moved to abolish the state’s pension law, but the state assembly only agreed to cutting the allowances by 50 per cent and expunging the provision for houses in the law. Recently, former Ogun State Governor and now Senator, Gbenga Daniel, volunteered that his pension from the state be suspended. These are examples that other states and individuals concerned can borrow a leaf from. After all, ongoing reforms by the Bola Tinubu presidency have forced hard sacrifices on most Nigerians. Ex-governors who are part of the administration as ministers or senators  should lead in making sacrifices.

  • Federation Account gets N5.2tr in six months

    Federation Account gets N5.2tr in six months

    • RMAFC kicks against cost of collection by GRAs

    Revenue Mobilisation Allocation And Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has announced that a total of N5,244,037,636,561.60 has accrued into the Federation Account from January to June.

    However, thecommission is opposed to the deductions of 32.27 per cent of the revenue going to Revenue Generating Agencies (RGAs).

    The RMAFC Chairman, Mr. Mohammed Bello Shehu, in a statement, said the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) presented the information in the monthly report to the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC).

    Shehu said various government agencies contributed to this revenue, including the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).

    The statement highlighted the significant amount of revenue generated from Value Added Tax (VAT) and solid minerals.

    It, however, said, “the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) did not remit any amount into the Federation Account during the period either as profit revenue or other revenue as contained in the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), 2021 as its revenue performance could not be assessed because neither its revenue target was disclosed nor its revenue remittance to the Federation Account was provided’’.

    “Out of the total gross revenue inflows into the Federation Account, the sum of N627,301,922,426.35 was NNPCL JV Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT) due, captured and recorded by the FIRS, but utilised by the NNPCL for other FGN obligations,” it added.

    From the report, the NUPRC remitted the sum of N823,512,065,893.15 while the FIRS made a gross collection of N3,655,894,989,129.28 but remitted N3,028,593,066,702.93 retaining the difference as cost of collection. The NCS on its part remitted the sum N764,630,581,539.17.

    Giving furthermore breakdown, the RMAFC Chairman added that the sum of N1,490,946,180,918.52 was realized as VAT while the sum of N83,024,395,855.89 was realized from the Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL) from which the sum of N3,320,975,834.23 was paid to FIRS as cost of collection.

    Additionally, the FIRS received the sum of N82,031,796,937.01 and N3,320,975,834.23 as cost of collection on PPT/CIT and EMTL collections respectively in the period.

    The report stated that from VAT, the FIRS/NCS together received the sum of N59,593,164,213.83 as cost of collection within the period under review.

    Similarly, the report indicated that the sum of N16,680,990,990.93 was realized from the solid minerals sector.

    The RMAFC Chair said that “total collections from VAT netted the sum of N1,387,328,862,898.16 which was shared to the three-tiers of government in accordance with the approved VAT sharing formula”.

    “Furthermore, the sum of N1,117,075,572.57 was paid in the month of March, 2023 as Consultancy Fee on VAT”. 

    Read Also: RMAFC suspends action on salary raise for political office holders

    On the statutory allocations to the three tiers of government, Mr. Shehu disclosed that the net sum of N3,069,594,889,669.74 was shared to the three-tiers of government in the period January to June, 2023.

    RMAFC he said is particularly unhappy with the payments made from the Federation Account component to Revenue Generating Agencies (RGAs) in Nigeria.

    According to the RMAFC, the NCS received the sum of N53,524,140,707.73 and the NUPRC received the sum of N33,961,852,403.53. The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) received the sum of N48,105,698,218.35 as penalties on gas flared, which used to be paid to the Federation Account before the Petroleum Industry Act of 2021.

    The statement also highlighted that 32.27 per cent of the total gross inflow into the Federation Account was deducted as statutory deductions, which the RMAFC Chairman believes is “superfluous and a drain on the Federation Account”.

    Also of concern to him was the fact that “the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) deducted the sum of N1,692,591,243,111.06 “as approved statutory deductions”, and the FIRS deducted N70 billion for “priority projects” in the second quarter.

    The RMAFC Chairman suggested that pragmatic measures are needed to enhance distributable revenues for the three tiers of the government to promote the growth and development of Nigeria’s economy.

    The Commission made recommendations for the operations and management of the Federation Account with particular reference to:

    “Payment of cost of collection to RGAs which should be tied to revenue performance where each RGA should receive cost of collection commensurate to the revenue generated against its revenue target in the Appropriation Act; the need for the government to review the payment of 100 percent (less cost of collection) revenue realized from gas flared penalty to the NMDPRA as Gas flared penalty was hitherto a Federation Account revenue component taken over by the PIA, 2021”.

    Other recommendations made by RMAFC on how to improve the management of the country’s Commonwealth and promote transparency and accountability include the review of all legislations related to statutory deductions and to increase the amount to be shared among the three-tiers of the government.

    Another recommendation is to focus more on the Solid Minerals sector to improve revenue generation and economic diversification. It was also recommended that no further deductions should be made in the name of ‘priority projects’ to avoid a repeat of the situation where large chunks of funds were deducted under the same name in the NNPCL.

    The Commission also recommended that all NNPCL JV PPT should be paid to the Federation Account through FIRS, and that NNPCL should be made to promptly remit all revenues due to the Federation Account in compliance with the provisions of the PIA, 2021.

    The Chairman of the Commission reiterated the commitment to promoting transparency and accountability in the country’s management of its Commonwealth, in line with the new administration’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

  • RMAFC suspends action on salary raise for political office holders

    RMAFC suspends action on salary raise for political office holders

    The reviewed salary/emoluments of political office holders have been jettisoned by the  Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC).

    The RMAFC, a  Federal Government agency with the responsibility to determine the salaries of members of the  Executive, Legislature and judicial officers, says it will only do so when the nation’s financial challenges improve.

    It dispelled the widely held belief by the public that political officeholders earn jumbo salaries/emoluments by citing the cases of the President and ministers.

    The   President said the RMAFC earns a  monthly pay’ is below N1.5 million while that of a   minister is not up to   N1 million. 

    The RMAFC  recalled that the last time the salaries/emoluments of public office holders were reviewed was in  2007. 

    Chairman of the commission  Mohammed Shehu, said these during an interview with the New Agency of Nigeria in Abuja yesterday.

    Shehu also revealed that the RMAFC has developed software to enhance transparency in revenue generation and sharing amongst the three tiers of government.

    The commission had last June, announced that it had raised the salaries of politicians, judicial and other public office holders by 114 per cent.

    Following condemnation by the public, the  Presidency said it had yet to approve the review as announced by the RMAFC.

    The commission is also a Federal Government agency responsible for mobilising and allocating revenue to the three tiers of government in Nigeria. Besides, it monitors the financial activities of the three tiers of government to ensure that they are in compliance with the law.

    During the interview in Abuja,  Shehu said:    “From 2008 till date there had not been any single review,” he said. “We are Nigerians, we are not going to start talking about reviewing salaries of political office holders now because of the challenges that the government is facing.

    “As a commission, we are going to do our work but we are not going to say we will do it now.

    “We will do it when the climate is right and then we will take it forward to the stakeholders for them to decide on what to do.

    “I need to disabuse the minds of Nigerians. It is not true that people are getting jumbo salaries.

    Read Also: Obasanjo was wrong, says Adeniyi

    “The monthly salary of Mr. President is less than N1.5 million; that of a minister is not even up to one million naira.

    “I know of an average CBN (Central Bank of Nigeria) worker who is not even a director, who earns more than a minister.

    “People in NNPCL (Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited), NCC (Nigerian Communications Commission), and ports authority earn huge salaries. What is the salary of a governor? What is the salary of a legislator?

    “I know some people will say members of the National Assembly get up to N10 million or N11 million monthly.

    “Those are not salaries, they are like operating costs of running their offices which in other societies the legislator does not have to see because there is a structure.

    “Once you get elected, you make that structure from your constituency office to computers to logistics to the size of your constituency.” 

    “The  Nigerian system allows the legislator to be given a certain amount and then he deals with that and retires the receipts.”

    The  RMAFC boss urged Nigerians to pay their taxes to boost government revenue and improve service delivery.

     Shehu said that less than 40 million Nigerians captured in the tax net, currently pay taxes.

    “That is too low for a country that has more than 200 million people,” he said.

    He welcomed  the  Tax Reform Committee recently set up by President Bola Tinubu, saying

    it would capture more economic players from the informal sector into the tax net.

    Shehu added: “There is all this debate about the informal economy. What this tax reform committee that we have set up will do is bring a lot of agencies together, including RMAFC. We are a member of that committee.

    “We have articulated our position and we will communicate what we believe can add value to the discussion.

    “At the end of it all, we will have a better society where more people are paying taxes and the money will be utilised for better services and infrastructure so that every Nigerian can benefit, ‘“ 

     “There are some taxes that the government is not getting from Nigerians.”

    The chairmait revealed that RMAFC has developed software to enhance transparency in revenue generation and sharing amongst the three tiers of government.

    According to him, the software will help the commission perform one of its major functions of reviewing the revenue allocation formula for the entire federation from time to time.

    “There is something called the vertical revenue allocation formula; who gets what percentage – Federal, State or Local Government (LG).

    “There is also the horizontal formula; how do you share that percentage among states and LGs?

    “That means you have to consider factors like population, school enrollment, land mass, hospital beds; these are some of the indices.

    “Previously what we did was to request for the required information manually, and then the commission will go and do the inspection manually,”  Shehu added.

  • How we prevent leakages of revenue to FG, by RMAFC

    How we prevent leakages of revenue to FG, by RMAFC

    Chairman of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) Mohammed Shehu,  says it is taking steps to block leakages and boost the Federal Government’s revenue generation initiatives.

    Shehu said one major function of the commission is to monitor the generation and disbursement of revenue from the Federation Account.

    His words: “That act of monitoring involves where to get the money from, to check and see whether revenue generating agencies, which are specifically mentioned in the Act, are living up to expectations.

    “The law mandates the commission to have the power to request for information from any revenue generating agency.

    “That means we have the right to go through the books of all government agencies to see the revenue they collected and what they remitted, ” he said.

    Read Also: Shettima assures RMAFC of support

    The chairman said that the RMAFC had created committees to oversee revenue generating agencies.

    “We have committees for customs, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), crude oil, gas, special duties, and solid minerals. These committees are mandated to carry out monitoring activities across Nigeria.

    “For instance, the customs committee usually goes to the custom services and other companies around the south-west, especially, where you have a heavy dose of manufacturing to look into their books.

    “They do this in collaboration with the Nigeria Customs Service ” the RMAFC boss said.

    He said that, however, some Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) are so complicated that sometimes the RMAFC had to hire forensic experts or teams of consultants to look deeper into their books.

    “Sometimes, they end up discovering huge sums of unremitted money.

    “Within the last two years, we discovered over N319 billion that has been established and it has been remitted to the appropriate account of the federation.

    “Sometimes, we collaborate with law enforcement agency like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

    “If there is an MDA or organisation that has established liability and has owned up to the liability and they decide not to pay, sometimes we request the services of EFCC and they have been helping,” Shehu said.

  • RMAFC asks governors for new revenue sharing plan

    THE Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) have requested governors to submit a proposal as the agency begins a review of the revenue allocation formula.

    Chairman of the agency Elias Mbam said the governors are yet to make any plan available despite being in the forefront of those seeking a review of the extant arrangement.

    Mbam said: “No governor has approached me for that (review of formula) either orally or in writing.”

    He added: “Governors should convey their interest to the commission because they don’t have the power to review the formula.”

    One of the governors said on Monday that the position of the states had not changed since a proposal was presented to the Goodluck Jonathan Administration in 2012.

    The governor said: “RMAFC does not need to wait for any presentation or document from us again to review the nation’s revenue allocation because since 2012, we have made our position known to the commission.

    “We raised a six-man committee, headed by ex-Governor Babatunde Fashola which recommended that states should get 42 per cent, the Federal Government 35 per cent;  and Local Governments 23 per cent. That remains the position of the governors.”

    He added: “Other members of the committee were ex-governors Murtala Nyako; Sullivan Chime; Babangida Aliyu; Rotimi Amaechi; and Aliyu Wamakko.

    Read Also: RMAFC inaugurates standing committee

    “RMAFC should continue to work with what we have presented to it and it can serve as a template for all stakeholders.”

    The governor explained further: “We have also set up a committee to monitor RMAFC’s action and further look at our demand when necessary as events unfold.

    “We are aware that the ultimate decision might not reside with RMAFC, it will be the lot of the Federal Government, the states and local governments.

    “Whatever is done by RMAFC, a lot of political consensus is required for any revenue allocation formula to be acceptable.”

    When asked how much pressure the states were putting on the commission to come up with a revenue formula that would give them bigger allocation from the federation account, the RMAFC chairman said: “The commission is not responsible to the governors. It’s an independent institution and the members are made up of men and women of proven integrity so they cannot be pressured or influenced to that.”

    Talks on a sustainable revenue sharing formula from the federation account to the three tiers of government was stalled five years ago.

    But, last month, the commission reopened the issue.

    The subsisting formula of 52.68 per cent for Federal Government, 26.72 per cent for states and 20.60 per cent for local governments came into existence in 2000 through a fiscal circular during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

    Apart from the votes from the FAAC, 13 per cent of the oil and gas federally collected revenue is shared among the oil and gas producing states and communities as derivation revenue.

    Attempts were made in 2014 under the administration of the Goodluck Jonathan to come up with what the RMAFC called “a consensus and more equitable revenue formula.” Specifically, the RMAFC carried out extensive consultations in 2013 and came up with a new revenue formula in December 2014.

    However, the Jonathan administration could not transmit the revenue formula which Mbam described as “inconclusive” to the National Assembly.

    It was alleged that many powerful individuals were unhappy that the revenue formula designed under Jonathan favoured the states.

    Mbam said a review is necessary because of “prevailing economic realities”.

    The commission, he said, will “pursue the diversification of the nation’s revenue for a more sustainable growth and economic development.”

    He added: “My agenda is to expand the sources of revenue for the federation. I will like to expand the cake that we are sharing so that people will get reasonable quantity. I intend to do this through diversification in areas outside oil and gas, and that includes solid minerals, agriculture and manufacturing.

    “The RMAFC will encourage states and let them know what is available outside oil and gas so they can develop this aspect of the economy to their own benefit.”

    Mbam is advocating financial autonomy for the local government areas to enable the bulk of Nigerians at the grassroots get the best out of democracy.

    He, however, noted that funding could delay the new revenue formula.

    Mbam cautioned that delay in funding can also delay the speed with which the revenue formula review would be completed. According to him, “they are just starting. I don’t want to preempt what they will actually come out with because there are so many other variables that will also be at play and which will determine when it will end.

    “Take for instance funding; there are some aspects that require funds and there are no funds. Delay in funding can also lead to delay in the timely completion of the new revenue formula. I don’t want to give you a date now; let’s progress a little more before I give you a date but we are looking at as early as possible.”

  • RMAFC: states right to demand review of revenue sharing formula

    STATE governments have the right to demand for a review of the revenue sharing formula of the Federation Account, a former Chairman of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Mr Shettima Abba-Gana, has said.

    Abba-Gana, the commission’s outgone Acting Chairman, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

    He noted that reviewing the formula was not the solution to states’ and local government areas’ (LGAs’) quest for increasing their revenue.

    Under the current sharing formula, the Federal Government takes the lion share of 52.68 per cent from the Federation Account; the 36 states are allocated 26.72 per cent while the balance of 20.60 per cent is given to the 774 local government areas.

    “Reviewing the formula is not an easy process and I am not particularly sure whether the review of the revenue sharing formula is the best solution for states.

    “This is because the formula itself is based on a foundation and that is the constitution that has given the federal exclusive functions and states and local government areas concurrent functions.

    “Unless you move functions from one tier to another, it will be very difficult to just transfer funds boldly to another tier,” he said.

    According to him, the magnitude of what the states are requiring may not be necessarily easy without some constitutional amendments to look at what the concurrent and exclusive functions of the states, local government areas and Federal governments are.

    Abba-Gana said what the RMAFC always advocated was getting more revenue that would be enough for the three tiers to share. The former RMAFC chief added that even the Federal Government required more funds, especially with the current security situation in the country and the demand for infrastructure, which also required funding.

    He said: “So, what the RMAFC has always advocated for is to get more revenue. We have always been pushing that the Product Sharing Contracts (PSCs) be reviewed to increase the government’s take.

    “We have always pointed out that production from Joint Venture Contracts (JVCs) have gone down from one million barrels per day to about 800,000 barrels per day.

    “It is the most profitable venture and that one has gone down, we need to get it back to be able to improve the funding to the federation account which definitely will benefit all tiers of government.”

    The former chairman explained that through the review of the PSCs and enhancement of the JVCs and the states going to do some more work on their Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), it would uplift revenue across board.

    This, he said, is more important than trying to share from a national cake that is presently not enough or is shrinking. On the review of the PSCs, Abba-Gana said it is an ongoing process that has been done in the past and was last reviewed in 2008.

    “In 2014 we did one and former President Goodluck Jonathan did not grant us leave to present it to him as should be done constitutionally and since then we have not done another one.

    “Though we have indicated that we need funds to do another one because we need to update it and do some traveling and research to be able to get current economic social realities before we can make anything as the new revenue sharing formula.

    “That is being considered now and whenever funds are available, the commission will start the process again to review what was done in 2014 and from what I am hearing, the present administration is serious about it,” he said.

  • RMAFC to recover N100b stamp duty funds from banks

    COMMERCIAL banks are to be probed over stamp duty collections, the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has said.

    A statement by the Commission’s spokesperson, Ibrahim Mohammed, said the probe would involve a forensic investigation of the funds collected as stamp duty by 22 Deposit Money Banks (DMB) between 2000 and last year.

    RMAFC is the only constitutional body vested with the powers to monitor all revenue accruals into the Federation Account.

    The statement reads: “The commercial banks have been deducting the sum of N50 on every deposit with a value of N1, 000 and above since January 2000. At the moment, the total sum of N33 billion has been realised through the collection of stamp duties which falls far below the expectation of stakeholders. It is expected that at the end of the exercise, over N100 billion would be recovered.

    Read also: Senate refers nominated RMAFC members to committee for screening

    “Arrangements have been made to engage the services of reputable forensic audit firms to carry out the probe of the banks. The probe will be comprehensive as it will cover the affixed stamp used on cheque books prior to the introduction of electronic transactions.”

    In the same vein, the Commission observed that “if NIPOST is properly repositioned through appropriate legal and regulatory framework and the introduction of appropriate technology, the Agency can generate over N500 billion.”

    RMAFC appealed to the National Assembly and the Federal Government to initiate measures for the amendment of the NIPOST Act to enable it to expand the economy and attract more revenue.

    Besides the planned probe, RMAFC has also embarked on the reconciliation of signature bonuses and other miscellaneous revenues from the oil and gas industry “to enable the Commission engage other stakeholders with a view to reducing revenue leakages and enhance remittance into the Federation Account.”

    The Commission has approached other stakeholders, especially the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for support.

  • RMAFC set to probe banks over stamp duty collections

    The Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) is set to probe commercial banks over stamp duty collections.

    According to a statement by its spokesperson, Mr. Ibrahim Mohammed, the probe which is to commence soon would involve a forensic investigation of the funds that have so far been collected as stamp duty by 22 Deposit Money Banks (DMB) from 2000 to 2018. RMAFC is the only constitutional body vested with the powers to monitor all revenue accruals into the Federation Account.

    To this end, it said: “The commercial banks had been deducting the sum of N50 on every deposit with a value of N1,000 and above since January 2000.

    “At the moment, the total sum of N33bn had been realised through the collection of stamp duties, which falls far below the expectation of stakeholders.

    “It is expected that at the end of the exercise, over 100 billion would be recovered.”

    The statement added the Commission had concluded “arrangements to engage the services of reputable forensic audit firms to carry out the probe of the banks.

    “The probe will be comprehensive as it will cover the affixed stamp used on cheque books prior to the introduction of electronic transactions.”

    The Commission observed that “if NIPOST is properly repositioned through appropriate legal and regulatory framework and the introduction of appropriate technology, the Agency can generate over 500 billion.”

    Therefore, the Commission appealed to the National Assembly and the Federal Government to initiate measures for the amendment of the NIPOST Act to enable it to expand the economy and attract more revenue to the Federation.

  • Senate refers nominated RMAFC members to committee for screening

    The Senate has referred the 30 nominated Chairman and Commissioners of Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) to its Committee on National Planning for screening.

    This followed a motion moved by the Leader of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan at plenary on Tuesday.

    President Muhammadu Buhari had urged the Senate to consider and confirm the appointment of the nominees in accordance with Section 154(1) of the 1999 Constitution (Amended).

    Senate President Dr Bukola Saraki asked the committee to exercise due diligence during the screening and report back to the senate within two weeks.

    Engr. Elias Mbam from Ebonyi State was nominated as Chairman while Chris Akomas (Abia), Ayang Okon (Akwa Ibom), Chima Okafor (Anambra), Isa Mohammed (Bauchi State) and Samuel Maagbe (Benue) were nominated as commissioners.

    Others nominees were Ntufam Whiley (Cross River), Andrew Agbaga (Delta), Patrick Mgbebu (Ebonyi), Victor Eboigbe (Edo), Amujo Ajayi (Ekiti), Maria Aniobi (Enugu State), Musa Abari (FCT), and Mohammed Usman (Gombe State).

    Also nominated were Ahmed Gumel (Jigawa), Kabir Mashi (Katsina State), Umar Abdullahi (Kano State), Rilwan Abarshi (Kebbi), Suleiman Abdul (Kogi) Abdullahi Yaman (Kwara), Wright Adekunle (Lagos State) and Aliyu Abdulkadir (Nasarawa).

    Others were Ibrahim Shettima (Niger), Fari Adebayo (Ogun), Tokunbo Ajasin (Ondo State), Kolade Abimbola (Oyo State), Alexander Shaiyen (Plateau), Wenah Temple (Rivers), Modu Juluri (Yobe) and Abubakar Gusau (Zamfara).

    RMAFC is a Federal Government establishment saddled with the responsibility of monitoring accruals to and disbursement of revenue from the Federation Account

    It reviews the revenue allocation formulae and principles in operation to ensure conformity with the changing realities.

    The commission also advises the Federal, State and Local Governments on fiscal efficiency and methods by which their revenue is to be increased.

    Furthermore, the commission determines remuneration appropriate to holders of offices as specified in Parts A and B of the First Schedule to the Act establishing it, among others.(NAN)