Osita Okechukwu, former director-general of the Voice of Nigeria, has expressed his support for the proposed review of the revenue allocation formula.

Mr Okechukwu, who stated this while addressing journalists in Enugu on Tuesday, said reviewing the revenue allocation formula would be a win-win for all.

He gave his backing shortly after Mohammed Shehu, the chairman of the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission, announced the proposal.

The former VON boss said the proposed review was long overdue, especially amid the move to also review the Constitution. He called for a reduction in the relatively disproportionate revenue allocation to the federal government from 52 per cent to 40 per cent, to guarantee a more balanced federalism.

This, he said, would enhance the progress and prosperity of the citizenry and ultimately advance the frontiers of grassroots democracy.

“I agree wholeheartedly with Shehu’s submission that the review of the vertical revenue-sharing formula, which determines how federally collected revenues are shared among the federal, state, and local governments, has been long overdue,” said Mr Okechukwu.

He noted that the 33-year-old revenue formula “is antithetical to development and retrogressive.”

“It is 52.68 per cent to the federal government; 26.72 per cent to states; 20.60 per cent to LGAs; and 4.8 per cent to special funds. One per cent FCT and Ecological Fund; 1.68 per cent Natural Resources and 0.5 per cent Stabilisation Fund, which are fractions that make up the rest,” he said.

Mr Okechukwu proposed a revenue-sharing formula of 40 per cent for the federal government, 40 per cent for the states, 10 per cent for the LGAs, and 10 per cent for the rest.

He added that it was a matter of security and evolving socioeconomic, political, and fiscal realities.

The APC chieftain noted that the LGAs’ allocation should be reduced since all genuine efforts made in the last 25 years to retrieve LGAs from the stranglehold of our “emperor governors” had repeatedly failed.

“Even the financial autonomy initiative by President Bola Tinubu, which culminated in the July 11, 2024, Supreme Court’s landmark judgment, has failed woefully. It has become a pragmatic imperative to stop chasing shadows,” he said.

(NAN)