Governor Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe says he has made a case for an upward review of statutory allocations to state and local governments to meet the ever-expanding challenges of social-economic human and infrastructural development.

He stated this on Tuesday in Gombe while flagging off a nationwide sensitisation on the ‘Review of Existing Revenue Allocation Formula’ by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC).

As the sole revenue allocation agency, the governor explained that RMAFC was charged with the periodic review of Nigeria’s revenue allocation formula, in line with current realities.

“The last time such review was successfully conducted was in 1992, some 29 years ago. Since then, a lot of changes have taken place across our social, political and economic spheres, thus, necessitating a review, in order to ensure a fairer and more equitable allocation formula that is compatible with our current realities.”

He further stated that the first phase of the review would focus on “the vertical allocation,” that is, “how revenue is shared among the three tiers of government.”

In the existing formula, Mr Yahaya stated that 36 states only collected “a paltry” 26.72 per cent while “our 774 LGAs collect 20.60 per cent” of all accruals from the federation account.

The federal government pockets the remaining percentage.

According to him, governments at the state and local levels have expanded while their revenue allocations remain the same.

“As the roles of states keep expanding, there’s the need for a proper review of the allocation formula to ensure they get the required resources, to be able to deliver on new and existing responsibilities,” the governor noted.