CHUKWUDI
AKASIKE
The
RIVERS State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike, said on Monday that his
administration was likely to battle the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and
Fiscal Commission over the imbalance observed in revenues allocated to the
state.
Wike
explained that the state was also ready to open channels of dialogue with the Federal
Government on the federal revenues accruing to the state.
He
specifically said that such steps were necessary in order to ensure that issues
of oil wells belonging to the state were resolved to enable it (Rivers) to get
the right revenues from RMAFC.
The
governor, who made this remark when a team from RMAFC paid him a courtesy visit
at the Government House in Port Harcourt, added that the state government would
explore all avenues of dialogue to ensure that it gets the revenues due to the
state.
“There
is the likelihood that the Rivers State Government will battle the RMAFC over
the revenues to Rivers State. We will dialogue with the Federal Government. We
shall explore all avenues of dialogue to ensure that we get our due revenue,”
Wike said.
He,
however, urged RMAFC to consider working on the imbalance in the revenue
sharing formula between the federal, states and local government areas.
Calling
on the RMAFC to also consider a review of revenue that accrues to different
tiers of government to enhance the development of the country, Wike added that
the review of public officers’ remunerations was also necessary.
He
noted that the fight against corruption should not be superficial, pointing out
that the war against graft must be fundamental to achieve the desired impact.
Earlier,
the leader of the team to review the emoluments of public officials in the
South-South zone, Professor Afolabi Popoola, said that the current emoluments
of public officials came into existence in 2008.
Popoola
explained that the review of such emoluments was necessary so as to bring them
in line with the present day economic realities.
Culled
from www.punchng.com
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