Chairman of the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Elias Mbam, has said the defection of Ebonyi State governor, David Umahi, to the All Progressives Congress (APC) has brought the South-East into mainstream politics in Nigeria.
Mbam, who spoke to BusinessDay in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State capital, commended Governor Umahi for joining the ruling party.
He said the defection of the governor has also united the people of the state who were in APC and PDP before now.
The chairman urged other states in the South-East that are not in APC to join mainstream politics by joining the party for the interest of the zone
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“Governor Umahi’s defection to the APC, our great party, is good for Ebonyi State, it is good for the South-East, it is good for the Igbo nation because this is bringing the Igbo nation to the mainstream politics and it is good for us,” Mbam said.
Speaking on the activities of his office, he said the commission has started the process for new revenue formula in the sharing of Federal Government allocation to all the states of the federation.
Mbam said the commission was already working on the new sharing formula and that the formula would take effect from 2021.
“Presently, we are working on a new revenue sharing formula. We have started the process and all things being equal, we expect that the new formula will be out in 2021,” he said.
According to him, the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation, and Fiscal Commission have diversified sources of revenue to the Federal Government with attention paid to the solid mineral sector to increase federal revenue.
“We are diversifying the sources of revenue, we have gone into the solid mineral sector. For the first time, the solid mineral sector is contributing to the federation account and we are closing up leakages. We are ensuring that revenue leakages are closed up or minimised so that more revenue will be accrued to the federation account.
“The commission is ever determined to use all its constitutional powers to ensure that all revenue accruable to the federation account is transparently remitted to the federation account and on time,” he said.
