Ben Ezechime, Enugu
Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State has called on the Federal Government to include the state in the disbursement of 13 per cent oil revenue share in line with the Derivation principles as provided for in the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
Mbah made the call during a visit to his office by the Indices and Disbursement Committee of the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation, and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC).
The RMAFC had in December 2022 listed Enugu as an oil producing state following the discovery of oil in Ogurugu, Uzo Uwani Local Government Area of the state.
Speaking further, the governor regretted that, in spite of the discovery and pronouncement, the state was yet to receive 13 per cent of revenues accruing to the state from the affected oil fields.
“We still have this pending issue of Enugu State being recognised as an oil producing state, which your Office actually communicated to us sometime in December 2022 based on the report of the Inter-agency Technical Committee.
“The Committee came up with a recommendation that Enugu should be benefiting from the 13 per cent derivation of the Anambra River Basin 1, Anambra River Basin 2, and Anambra River 3, but we have still not benefited from those fields.
“So, it is our hope that your Office will put the necessary machinery in motion to ensure that we begin to benefit from that,” Mbah said.
According to him, the present administration was mobilising internal revenue sources, growing the state’s IGR by over 400 per cent through the broadening of revenue sources and deploying of technology to block leakages.
“It is our hope that your indices also would be updated to reflect that much growth in our domestic revenue.
“We hope to actually surpass that. Our IGR in our 2025 budget is over 500 billion.
“And from the indications, we are going to surpass that projection,” he said.
The governor said his administration ensured that all revenues accruing to the local governments got to them 100 per cent in addition to assisting them in the funding of big projects.
He said this was in the spirit of transparency and accountability.
Speaking, the leader of the team and Commissioner representing Kwara State in RMAFC, Mr Ismaila Agaka commended Mbah for the proper utilisation of Federal Allocations and IGR to transform the state in a short period.
“Before we came, we thought it was one of those media blitz that accompany the activities of state governors.
“But we have gone around. We have seen for ourselves the work going on.
“I particularly noted that illegal structures have no place again in Enugu, and that is the way it should be.
“There should be sanity and discipline in the way we do things; and we have seen evidence of that, sir,” he said.
He said the RMAFC team was in Enugu State to monitor the disbursements from the Federation Account to Enugu State.
“The major aim and objective of this exercise is to assist in identifying any irregularities, misapplication or wrongful application of indices with respect to the indices used in sharing revenue to Enugu State and the local governments from the Federation Account.
“To examine the actual deductions made before the disbursement to the state and the local governments and to identify possible causes of zero application, if any, to the local government councils with the view to resolving it amicably,” Agaka said.
