Solid Minerals Producing States to Enjoy 13% Derivation

States endowed with solid minerals will soon join their Niger Delta counterparts to enjoy 13 per cent revenue allocation from the federation revenues.

The Chairman of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Mr. Elias Mbam, disclosed on Thursday  that the sharing formula was being worked out.

He hosted members of the House of Representatives Committee on Finance who paid an oversight visit to the commission.

Some of the solid mineral producing states include Benue, Niger, Plateau, Nasarawa, Ogun, Taraba and Kaduna. Others are Kwara, Enugu, Zamfara, Kogi, Bauchi, Gombe, Osun and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

According to Mbam, the commission was working closely with

the Ministry of Mines and Steel to get the solid minerals sector to start contributing to the Federation Account for the first time.

“The result of the collaboration is that the solid minerals sector is now contributing to the Federation Account for the first time.

“The contributing states will henceforth enjoy the 13 per cent derivation on the amount of revenue accruing from their states. The commission is preparing a template for the sharing of the 13 per cent derivation for solid minerals.”

The chairman also enumerated some of the problems bedeviling his organisation as lack of power of enforcement, fusion of the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation from that of the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation as well as its inability to pay statutory allocation directly to the local governments.

Responding, Hon. Abdulrahman Terab (PDP, Borno), who represented the Chairman of the House Committee on Finance, Hon. Abdulmumin Jibril, said: “We believe that unless the commission is empowered, it will not be able to discharge its functions. That is why we have ensured that the ongoing constitution amendment takes care of this concern.

“We will continue to ensure that the issue of non-release or poor release of allocation to ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) was being addressed.”

Thisday