SPEECH BY
HIS EXCELLENCY, PRESIDENT OLUSEGUN OBASANJO
AT THE INAUGURATION OF THE
REVENUE MOBILIZATION ALLOCATION AND FISCAL COMMISSION
ABUJA 12TH MAY 2005
PROTOCOL
It is with great pleasure that I welcome you all to this occasion, marking the inauguration, for the second time, of the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission since the present Administration came into being in May 1999. I congratulate the Chairman and his eight other colleagues on their reappointment and all the other Members on their appointment for the first time.
The Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission is one of the Federal Executive Bodies established under section 153 (1) of the 1999 Constitution. Members of the Commission must be persons of unquestionable integrity. Therefore, in exercising the power conferred on me by section 154 (1) of the 1999 Constitution I decided to appoint you as Chairman and Commissioners of the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission. This is because of my firm conviction that you are all men and women of unquestionable integrity, dedication and patriotism. I am therefore most optimistic that you will discharge your duties transparently and without fear or favour.
You are all aware of the commitment of this administration to the tenets of transparency, probity and accountability. Your duties in the Revenue Commission involve matters that are very sensitive and constitute the major pillars of our democracy and economy. Indeed, the success of the fiscal federalism within the Nigerian polity revolves around the fairness and transparency with which you perform your Constitutionally assigned responsibilities.
Your Commission is responsible for fashioning out a Revenue Allocation Formula for the nation, providing realistic but adequate remuneration for Public/Political Office holders, monitoring of revenue accruals into and disbursements from the Federation Account as well as advising the Federal and State Governments on fiscal efficiency and methods of increasing their revenues. It is, therefore, expected that you will carry out these assignments transparently to the best of your ability in a manner that is in line with the tenets of transparency, probity and accountability.
I must place on record, my sincere appreciation to the Chairman and Members of the past Commission whose tenure ended on 29th September, 2004, for their excellent performance. Within the period, the Commission produced a Revenue Allocation Formula which to my mind is fair and just to all tiers of Government, and which I promptly submitted to the National Assembly, in keeping with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, with minor amendments, which I considered to be in the national interest.
Secondly the Commission worked tirelessly and submitted reports to Government on External Debt Management, Remuneration Package for Political/Public Office Holders, Diversification of the Nigerian Economy, Disputed oil wells among others. It is my hope that the present Commission will build upon these achievements and perform even better. It is in this regard that I wish to make a few suggestions to the Commission on areas it should pay more attention to, in the next five years.
The first function specified in the 1999 Constitution for the Commission is monitoring of accruals into and disbursements from the Federation Account. Mr. Chairman, Members of the Commission, you may recall that this Administration has come up with the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) as a demonstration of our commitment to our ideal of probity and accountability. I will therefore urge you to monitor vigorously the oil and non-oil sources of Federation Account revenues. Relatedly, you should pursue the issue of fiscal efficiency of the Federal and State Governments, as there is a lot that can be done to improve internal revenue generation and our expenditure patterns. Indeed, you should institute a programme of regular expenditure reviews of the three tiers of Government and all arms of government.
On the sensitive issue of Public/Political Office holders remuneration, I wish to reiterate what I said earlier when I inaugurated the out-gone Commission in September 1999 to the effect that you have to provide a remuneration package for public office holders that enables them to live honestly and with dignity, but taking into consideration the requirements of the sectors of the Nigerian economy which also need to be encouraged to survive.
One other issue that is important to this Administration is the diversification of the Nigerian Economy. I note and appreciate the effort of the Commission in organizing the National Seminar on the subject in April 2004. since that seminar, this Administration has doubled its efforts at encouraging additional revenue earnings from sectors, other than oil. The cassava initiative is an example and I am pleased to announce that we exported our first containers of cassava chips to China only a few weeks ago. Your Commission may consider encouraging State and Local Governments to earn additional foreign exchange for the country by coming up with additional indices and proxies that favour them as they embark on the sustainable diversification of their economies. Such efforts should earn them additional revenue from the Federation Account.
Finally, I wish you every success in the discharge of your Constitutional responsibilities. I urge you to use your distinct and sacred positions to advance the interest of justice, equity, transparency and other values that are encapsulated in our on-going reform agenda. It is now my honour and pleasure to formally inaugurate the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission.
Thank you and may God continue to bless Nigeria.
RESPONSE BY CHAIRMAN ENGR. HAMMAN TUKUR TO THE
PRESIDENT’S SPEECH AT THE INAUGURATION
OF THE REVENUE MOBILIZATION ALLOCATION AND FISCAL COMMISSION
AT THE PRESIDENTIAL ON THURSDAY, 12TH MAY 2005
Your Excellency, the President and Commander-in-Chief,
Your Excellency, the Vice President,
Secretary to the Government of the Federation,
Chief of staff to the President,
Honourable Ministers,
My Colleagues,
Distinguished ladies and Gentlemen,
May I, on behalf of the newly inaugurated Commissioners give a brief response to Mr. President’s address. Your Excellency we will like to thank you most sincerely for reappointing me and some of my Colleagues for a second tenure. It is indeed a great honour and privilege to once again serve this great nation in our capacity as Members of the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission. I will also like to thank Your Excellency on the appointment of the other Members who are undoubtedly men of unquestionable integrity.
2 The Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission as a permanent Commission is not just for allocating revenue but also for efficient and effective mobilization of resources that would ensure sustainable economic development and growth of our nation. Indeed, we take particular note of the fact that the word ‘Mobilization’ precedes ‘Allocation’ in the Official name of the Commission. We, as a Commission, promise Mr. President that we shall, this time around, focus our attention on the ‘Mobilization’ aspect of the constitutional responsibilities of the Commission. The Members of the Commission are already very much aware of your personal commitment to transparency, probity and accountability in governance and also your fight against corruption. Corruption, Mr. President, is worse than Tsunami. In this respect, we wish to assure Mr. President of our non-negotiable and unflinching support in pursuing these sterling policies without which no nation can develop and earn the respect of the international community. We will also do our best in order to advice Government on ways of reducing drastically the nation’s dependence on the oil sector. As part of our constitutional responsibilities, the Commission will also undertake indepth analysis of public expenditure through annual budgets reviews in order to advise the three tiers of Government on their fiscal efficiencies. This special aspect of our work will indeed necessitate expending our Zonal offices to cover all States of the Federation, a subject we intend to take up later. We also note Your Excellency’s suggestion of new proxies and indices, which would encourage States and Local Governments to pursue the diversification programme.
3 I will like to seize this opportunity to thank Your Excellency for the support and cooperation the Commission received during our first tenure. Your Excellency was most patient and willing to assist the Commission any time the need arose. Indeed, the achievements of the Commission in the last five years were only possible because of the support, sympathy and cooperation of Your Excellency. We are not only hopeful but confident that Your Excellency would give the Commission even greater support and cooperation this time around. In this respect, Your Excellency is aware that out of the 29 persons just appointed and for which you have inaugurated, 20 of them are NYSC first time comers. In order to enable them settle down quickly and help them contribute meaningful and quickly in discussions at plenary Sessions of the Commission, we have planned to organize an induction programme for all the Commissioners in form of a retreat at a venue outside Abuja. This is to avoid distractions. We pray most respectfully and most humbly that Mr. President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, GCFR, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, defender of the weakest third tier will graciously and most generously come, once again, to the assistance of the Commission in funding the retreat. A formal request is being made on this subject.
4 Finally, I wish to assure you of our commitment to the onerous tasks that the Constitution and your good self have placed on our shoulders – and we are determined by the grace of God not to fail the nation.
5 All we await for now is the usual lunch Mr. President always gave us after these rare occasions!
6 May I once more thank you most sincerely for the honour done to us.
Engr. Hamman A. Tukur, mni, OFR
Chairman