DECLARE ENUGU STATE OIL PRODUCING STATE—GOV UGWUANYI TELLS RMAFC
REPORTER: OKECHUKWU EZEONA
Enugu State Governor, Mr. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, wants the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) to expedite action on the process to designate Enugu as an oil-bearing state in the country.
Governor Ugwuanyi made the request on Monday when he received the management team of RMAFC lead by the Chairman, Indices and Disbursement Committee, Mr. Chris Akomas on a courtesy visit at the Banquet Hall, Government House Enugu.
The delegation from RMAFC was in Enugu for an interactive session with members of the State Executive Council, Seventeen Council Chairmen and other stakeholders in the state in line with the commissions’ on-going nationwide sensitization tour of the thirty-six states and the Federal Capital Territory on the review of the existing Revenue Allocation Formula.
The Governor who was represented by his deputy, Mrs. Cecilia Ezeilo noted that the request to designate Enugu oil-bearing state had become imperative following the large volume of crude oil harvested from its territory.
He pointed out that years of oil exploration in the Enugu/Anambra/Kogi States joint border corridor had resulted in the successful exploitation of crude oil in the area, which included a large part of Enugu State territory.
The Governor who described the nationwide sensitization and consultative engagement as timely and in conformity with changing realities, commended the Commission for its decision to embark on the exercise, which he said would enthrone a generally acceptable revenue sharing formula and meet the yearnings and aspirations of the nation’s three tiers of government in the overall interest of the people.
In a remark, the leader of the team, Mr. Chris Akomas, announced that the subsisting revenue allocation formula in Nigeria was last reviewed twenty-nine years ago, noting that the need for its review had become imperative to ensure equity, fairness and justice.
Earlier in an a speech, the Enugu State Commissioner for Finance and Economic Development, Mrs. Ada-Onah Uyanwune, explained that the Commission through its sensitization tour was laying a good foundation, considering the protracted agitations of many Nigerians who had been asking for the use of the revenue allocation template to address and fulfill the collective aspirations of the citizens for real and sustainable development.
Dignitaries at the event included the Deputy Speaker Enugu State House of Assembly, Mr. Uche Ugwu, the Acting Chief Judge of the state, Justice Afojulu Raymond Ozoemena, and the Secretary to the state Government, Professor Uchenna Ortuanya.
