By Joshua Egbodo
Abuja
Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has disclosed that solid minerals producing states would henceforth enjoy 13 percent revenue derivation, as is applicable to oil producing areas.
Chairman of the Commission, Engr. Elias Mbam, who made the disclosure yesterday while hosting members of the House of Representatives committee on finance on an oversight visit, said RMAFC had liaised with the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, and “the result of the collaboration is that the solid minerals sector is now contributing to the Federation Account for the first time.”
He said: “The contributing states will henceforth enjoy the 13 per cent derivation on the amount of revenue accruing from their states and that the commission is preparing a template for the sharing of the 13 per cent derivation for solid minerals.”
On the challenges facing RMAFC, Mbam said the commission was not fully discharging its statutory responsibilities because it lacks the power of enforcement, a situation, he lamented, had rendered the commission “a toothless bulldog.”
He added that there was the need for the separation of the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation from that of the Office of the Accountant General of the Federal Government.
“The Accountant General of the Federal Government would be in charge of the operation and management of the Consolidated Revenue of the Federal Government while the Accountant General of the Federation would be in charge of the Federation Account.”
In his response, Hon. Abdulrahman Terab, who represented the chairman of the House Committee on Finance, Hon. Abdulmumin Jibril, said the House was aware of the limitations facing the Commission and had taken steps to grant it necessary powers in the ongoing constitution amendment.
He said: “We believe that unless the commission is empowered, it will not be able to discharge its functions. That is why we have ensured that the ongoing constitution amendment takes care of this concern. We will continue to ensure that the issue of non-release or poor release of allocation to ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) was being addressed.”