The proposed new revenue formula is in the final stage of becoming a public document.
As part of the process of giving the nation an acceptable revenue formula, the new formula will soon be presented to the National Assembly to pass into law.
The Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), through a statement in Abuja on Friday, confirmed plans to transmit the new revenue formula to the National Assembly.
President Muhammadu Buhari, after going through the details of the vertical revenue formula and satisfied with the contents, will forward the formula “to the National Assembly for promulgation into law”.
The vertical Revenue Allocation Formula deals with the sharing of revenue among the three tiers of government while the Horizontal Revenue Allocation Formula involves distribution among states on the one hand and Local governments on the other.
In the circumstance, the Commission has commenced the review of “the indices used for the Horizontal Revenue Allocation Formula”.
Thus, the RMAFC is set to roll out “a proprietary software for the collection of data on the indices to be used for the horizontal Revenue Allocation Formula for the Nation”.
Chairman of the RMAFC, Mr. Mohammed Bello Shehu, disclosed this in Abuja while announcing the commencement of its maiden tooling programme.
Shehu said: “The tooling exercise is targeted at equipping selected officials of states and local governments in the country, including area councils of the Federal Capital Territory, with an indept understanding and operation of the electronic platform that the Commission will use in data collection as it prepares to review the indices for the Horizontal Revenue Allocation Formula for the nation”.
He explained that officials from states and Local governments will take turns on zonal basis to undergo the tooling exercise.
The RMAFC Chairman further stated that as part of the commission’s mandate, which includes review of the “indices used for the Horizontal Revenue Allocation Formula from time to time”.
The review will take into consideration “the changing realities, as a result, the Commission is deploying the latest information technology tools to minimize the human interface in indices data collection”.
The new information technology tools will “promote objectivity, transparency, justice and equity in revenue allocation,” according to the statement from RMAFC.
Shehu recalled that the Commission had earlier concluded and submitted to President Muhammadu Buhari a review of the vertical Revenue Allocation Formula, by the immediate past Chairman of the RMAFC, Engr Elias Mba.