Rivers state Governor, Nyesom Wike, has urged the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission to reduce revenue accruable to the Federal Government from the federation account to 40 per cent, and increase those of states and local government councils to 40 and 20 per cent respectively.
The governor said the current revenue sharing formula that allowed the Federal Government to take 52.68 per cent, and the states and local government councils to take 26.72 per cent and 20.60 percent respectively, was unacceptable.
Wike made the assertion when members of the RMAFC, led by its chairman, Elisa Mbam, paid him a courtesy call at the Government House, Port Harcourt on Wednesday.
The governor observed that despite the changes that the country had been through in the past 29 years, it was regrettable that it had continued to use the 1992 revenue formula prescribed by the military.
This was contained in a statement issued by the Special Assistant to the Governor on Media, Kelvin Ebiri titled ‘Wile calls for upward review of revenue allocation to states’ and made available to journalists on Wednesday.
Wike faulted the use of 1992 population figure, public school enrolment and public hospital bed spaces, land mass as formula for allocation of revenue.
He argued that a more equitable formula should also take into cognisance current population figure as well enrolment in private schools and number of bed spaces in private hospitals.
