Some leaders of Afenifere, the Yoruba socio-cultural
organisation, have berated a national leader of the All Progressives Congress,
Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, over his call for the review of the country’s revenue
allocation formula.
The Afenifere leaders, Chief Ayo Adebanjo; and the National
Publicity Secretary, Yinka Odumakin, in separate interviews on Saturday, said
the APC chief must do beyond talking.
The APC national leader had, on Saturday, made the call for
the review of the country’s “cumbersome revenue formula,” adding that the
governors of the South-West region particularly must be united in boosting
their internally generated revenues.
Tinubu, while speaking at the inauguration of the Ondo State
Revenue House, in Akure, noted that such a step would help to ameliorate
unemployment and hunger experienced by the people.
He said, “The cumbersome revenue formula of Nigeria as of
today needs to be reviewed. If the fiscal element of our Nigerian economy is
strictly well supervised, we can turn our population to prosperity, instead of
our liability. You can equally use the synergy with the Oodua Investment to
collaborate not only on Amotekun syndrome. Amotekun is a creation of necessity
for hoodlums caused by unemployment, frustration and hunger.
“If everybody is engaged, Amotekun will be a pet. If you
work with Oodua Investment, look at the area of collaboration. I know Ondo for
(its) great potential for gas, energy and tourism to feed this country.”
In his remarks, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu said the state was
generating between N600m and N700m on a monthly basis.
“We were able to generate N1.5bn on a monthly basis in
2018,” the governor said.
However, Adebanjo argued that rather than making a call,
Tinubu should ensure that the APC-led Federal Government fulfilled its campaign
promises to Nigeria, including restructuring,.
He said, “The statement may not be more than a campaign
slogan for Tinubu. He knows that all these issues about revenue generation and
sharing are contained in restructuring. If he is convinced about restructuring,
then he should press for it now. Restructuring was part of the APC campaign
promises; what have they done about it?
“He should join the clamour for the restructuring of this
country. We are fed up with the play on words.”
Also, Odumakin said, “The views he (Tinubu) has made public
now, he should canvass with those at the helms of affairs in the country. More
resources should go to the federating units. We should not talk so much about
revenue sharing but revenue generation.
“Every section of the country must be revenue-generating. We
have solid minerals even in the North, where Zamfara is now taking the lead at
the moment. There will always be contentions when we talk about sharing but
Nigeria should focus more on generation.”
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