RMAFC Bill: Coalition Calls For President Tinubu’s Assent

The Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL) has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to assent to the bill for an act to amend the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission Act, CAP. R7 LFN 2010.

In a statement signed by the Chairman, CACOL, Debo Adeniran on behalf of the Civil Society Coalition Against Corruption in Lagos, is seeking to grant the commission enforcement powers in the monitoring of accruals to and disbursement of revenue from the Federation Account and bring the Act in conformity with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as Amended).

The Coalition further stated that the twilight of the last administration, the 9th Assembly had passed the Bill that would give the beleaguered Commission a new lease of life hence calling for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to assent to it.

The Bill, according to the coalition recommended that “the Commission shall be wholly funded by the three tiers of government being beneficiaries of the Federation Account.”

It, however, lamented that as one of the 14 Executive Bodies recognized by the Constitution, RMAFC is one of the most poorly funded Agencies compared to other sister Constitutional bodies like Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), National Population Commission, National Assembly and others that are heavily funded from the national purse.

The Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) is one of the Executive bodies established by the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
(As Amended).

It is saddled with the responsibility of monitoring the accruals of federally-generated revenues to the Federation Account and disburse same to the three tiers of government; review from time to time, the Revenue Allocation formulae and principles in operation to ensure conformity with changing realities among other functions.

Adding that RMAFAC has contributed to the democratization process, by encouraging good governance, transparency, accountability and even development in the country, Debo espoused that “the review process of the above exercises involves extensive and in-depth research and studies in various areas of our political economy, call for memoranda, consultations, sensitization workshops, collection and collation of data, studies of other similar Federations in respect of fiscal arrangements, public hearings and administration of questionnaires which involves huge expenditure”.

The Coalition also observed with dismay that, “while the Commission continues to discharge its constitutional responsibilities assiduously with little resources, workers and their Chief Executives in the various revenue generating Agencies it supervises, luxuriate in humongous salaries and allowances driving state-of-the-art cars as official vehicles, working in spacious and well-equipped offices and attending conferences, seminars and retreat abroad all at the tax payers expenses.

“It is maladroit to expect a poorly funded organization with ill-motivated staff to perform supervisory functions on well-funded agencies whose staff are adequately remunerated and highly motivated”.

“In all honesty, how do you expect RMAFC to effectively monitor those Agencies without being ridiculed given the impoverished working conditions of their staff, how can the Commission attract top rate graduates and experienced hands like those in the MDAs they are supposed to oversight, how can they deploy top-notch ICT infrastructure like those obtained in Federal Inland Revenue Service, Customs, and NNPCL?”

As a result, Debo Adeniran is calling on other critical stakeholders like the National Economic Council, the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, ALGON and the Media to bring their influence to bear on the Presidency to do the needful.

“It is our strong belief that the signing of the Bill into law by Mr. President would translate to stoppage of leakages in revenue generation, increase more revenues into the Federation Account and generally promote transparency and accountability in the management of our Commonwealth in consonance with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope mantra: “A stitch in time saves nine.”