Look for more sources of revenues outside federal allocations, Sanwo-Olu tells govs

Lagos State governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Monday tasked state governments across the country to look for ways to generate more revenue rather than relying on federal allocations to run their states.

The governor also charged the Federal Government to look beyond oil revenue and improve diversification into the agricultural sector.

The governor gave the charge while speaking at the opening ceremony of the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) Retreat held in Lagos with the theme: ‘Efficient Federation Revenue Allocation as a Nexus for National Economic Diversification.’

Sanwo-Olu represented by his deputy, Dr Obafemi Kadiri Hamzat, while emphasising that the era of relying wholly on federal allocation was over in the country, stressed that each state needed to diversify its source of revenue and look for ways to boost its Internally Generating Revenue (IGR) instead of waiting on federal government for monthly allocation.

“Nigerian government needs to diversify its source of revenue. We must do anything we can to boost revenue along the line of manufacturing. It is important every state first look for ways to diversify. We must reduce our dependence on federal allocation,” he said.

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Sanwo-Olu, while describing the FAAC as one of the most important national institutions due to the critical nature of its responsibilities, argued that there was the need for a new, fair and just revenue-sharing formula, for federating units to achieve a meaningful diversification and sustainable growth in IGR.

The governor suggested the need to attach increased value to population density as a critical factor, in addition to the nominal population figure to make revenue sharing formula fairer, equitable, and more development-oriented.

Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Hajiya Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed, in her keynote address, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Hajiya Zainab, said the federal government had embarked on “policies and measures to improve the fiscal health of the federal government and states.”

According to the minister, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Mahmud Dutse, these measures for the states “included various financing options made available in form of bailout funds, budget support facility, relaxation of conditions for borrowing and ease of doing business.”

“Over the years, the government have been committed to the efficient of our common resources through fair, just and equitable distribution of the federation revenue to the three tiers of government as monthly statutory allocations,” she added.

The minister expressed concerns that states have relied largely on federal allocations to finance their budgets and described it as “not only risky but also unsustainable.”

She equally urged states to “give serious consideration to diversify sources of revenue at national and sub-national levels with a view to deploying appropriate measures to plug leakages and ensure effectiveness in revenue collection.”