Governor Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State has started to push for a new revenue sharing formula that will allow States and Local Governments get more than the Federal Government. The agitation is coming as Northern Governors’ wives are saying that the shut down of schools in the region is a short term solution to protecting the children from banditry ravaging the area.
Northern Governors’ Wives Forum (NGWF) stated its position in Abuja during an interactive session with Journalists during which they unveiled their agenda for 2022, noting that though the closure of schools in the North cannot be sustained, they said children should not be exposed to danger.
NGWF’s Chairperson who is the wife of Kaduna State Governor, Hadiza El-Rufai, an architect, said long term strategy to addressing kidnapping of children from schools would eventually end banditry and defeat them.
According to her, the priority for now is to protect the children while alternative learning is organised for them, stressing that kidnapping of children from school is a source of concern to all of them especially in a country where there are so many children out of school.
“But talking about the short term measure, as a short term basis, yes but not a permanent solution. I think it is what the state governments are already doing like in Kaduna state and recently in Zamfara state, they have closed all the schools. That is a short term solution but it cannot be sustained because we must get our children to school. But as it is now, it is important to keep our children safe.
“So, it doesn’t make sense to say that because you want your children educated, you put them at risk. I believe that the government is doing all it can to see that these bandits are defeated once and for all”, she said.
Vice Chairperson of the Forum, Ambassador Olufolake AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, wife of the Kwara State Governor, said the aim of the interactive session was to bring journalists on board with regards to the agenda of the Forum in the next one year.
The two focal areas for the Northern Governors’ wives are Gender Based Violence and tackling of Drug Abuse in the 19 northern forums.
However, according to Governor Yahaya, expanding roles of states and local governments in the last 29 years has made it mandatory for an upward review of the revenue allocations to the two tiers of governments.
He was speaking during a sensitisation on the review of the existing revenue allocation formula by the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), in Gombe, noting that over the past decades, the roles of State Governments have expanded while our revenue allocation has remained the same
He also said that there has been so much pressure especially on state governments to tackle challenging issues of insecurity, environmental degradation, decaying infrastructure, funding of primary healthcare and basic education.
Furthermore, the governor argued that as roles of the states keep expanding, there is the need for a proper review of the allocation formula to ensure that states get the required resources to be able to deliver on new and existing responsibilities.
Governor Yahaya is calling on Abuja to give Gombe a special consideration just like Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States who have been bedeviled with attacks by insurgents. “Given the special position of Gombe at the center of the North-East, we serve as the regional shock-absorber, witnessing the influx of internally displaced persons from front line insurgency states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe States.
“This puts tremendous pressure on our basic infrastructure and services. It is therefore only fair that the special consideration being extended to these 3 states be also extended to Gombe State to enable us deal with new challenges”, the governor said.
Federal Commissioner representing Gombe in RMAFC, Mohammed Kabiru Usman Kukandaka, earlier said the objective of the sensitisation was to enlighten stakeholders on the need to participate and make relevant contributions in the process of the review in order to assist the Commission come up with fair, just, equitable and acceptable revenue formula for the country.
Kukandaka said as a constitutional mandate, RMAFC is saddled with the responsibility of periodic review of the revenue allocation formula and principles in operation to ensure conformity with changing realities.
“In 1992 the vertical share of revenue to be allocated to the three tiers of government as proposed by the RMAFC was as follows: Federal Government 48.5 percent States 24.0, Local percent Governments 20.0 percent, stabilization 0.5, derivation 1 percent, FCT 1 percent, development of mineral resource areas 3 percent ecology 2 percent,” he said.
