Gov. Obi Advocates 40-40-20 Revenue Sharing Formula.

Less than 9-months to the expiration of his tenure, Anambra State Governor, Mr Peter Obi has called for the review of the current sharing revenue formula in the country. Mr Obi proposed 40-40-20 per cent revenue allocation formula for the Federal,States and Local Governments respectively.
Obi made this suggestion when some members of the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation & Fiscal Commission paid him a visit at the governor's lodge,Amawbia.
Mr Obi stated that the present sharing revenue formula of Nigeria did not in any way reflect the economic situation of the day. "The formula that is in use today was put in place during the military era. In a proper federating unit,there are only two units,the Federal and States' governments. The Local government does not exist...In a federating unit anywhere in the world,the key driver of programmes is the State,which is the sub-nation. The nation is there,symbolic for issues of defence,external relations and so on. The format should have been 40-40-20; 40 for Federal,40 for States and 20 for Local govts,with a clause that no state will receive lower than a bench mark". Gov. Obi commended the efforts of the Commission in their bid to review the allocation formula while calling also on them to bear the pecularities of each geo-political zone in mind as they do so. Obi noted that the South East zone has already been disadvantaged due to the only five States in the zone. Mr Nnamdi Ekweogwu ,who led the delegation and who is also the Federal Commissioner of Anambra State said,that the Commission was in the State to begin the sensitization of the masses. He said,"The sensitization is to ginger our people so that adequate contribution shall be made to fashion out an acceptable revenue formula for the nation. Mr Ekweogwu also noted that they had began the process of reviewing the formula which is in use since 1992 and was put in place by military administration. He also said that an attempt was made in 2003 to establish new one but it failed. Ekweogwu said that the Commission has also carried out study tours of countries that operate similar political administrative system. They also advertised in the media and called for memoranda from States and other stakeholders to help review the formula. *****In looking around my environment,and seeing that the impact of the FG and the LG is rarely felt, I think 40 for FG, 50 for States and 10 for LG would make more sense than 40:40:20.