PARIS OLYMPIC GAMES
Governors under the auspices of the Nigerian Governors Forum are meeting in Abuja Wednesday night over the issues that led to deadlock of the last Federation Accounts and Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting in Abuja.
They are meeting to deliberate among themselves and take a decision to National Economic Council (NEC) Thursday, to be presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
The forum under the chairmanship of Zamfara state governor, Abdulaziz Yari, are also meeting with the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chris Ngige, to discuss the contentious issue of minimum wage implementation as well as the issue of stamp duties which is currently in court.
For the third time in a row, Federation Accounts Allocation Committee, FAAC, meeting was deadlocked as state commissioners for finance rejected the revenue put on the table by revenue agencies last week.
FAAC members have resolved not to accept FAAC until a clear system for determining federation revenue was put in place.
The governors are also discussing the update on recovery of stamp duties, a subject of controversy as the states claim that the amount due to states have not been remitted.
The Governors had in April set up a three-man committee to investigate the alleged N20 trillion unremitted stamp duty funds to the federation account.
The committee, which is chaired by Ibikunle Amosun, Ogun state governor, has Emmanuel Udom and Abubakar Bello, governors of Akwa Ibom and Niger as members.
On January 15, 2016, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had issued circular directing banks to deduct N50 stamp duty on every N1,000 deposit made into current accounts.
In 2017, the senate alleged that N20 trillion due to be paid into the federation account from stamp duty charges on bank transactions was withheld between 2015 and 2017.
The senate said projections for stamp duty in 2015, 2016 and 2017 revenue frameworks of the nation’s annual budget were put at N8.713 billion, N66.138 billion and N16.96 billion.
On the minimum wage being proposed by government and labour, the governors are insisting on the staggering of the implementation of the new wage if approved.
The Nigeria Labour Congress is proposing a minimum wage of N65,000 for workers.
The governors are also discussing the last tranche of the Paris Club refund and the states yet to get payment.
State Governors are also jostling to take whatever they could lay their hands on from the monthly remittances of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) to prosecute their respective political ambitions in the 2019 General Elections, reports have indicated.
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