The House of Representatives has approved the issuance of warrant for the arrest of Shettima Umar Abba Gana, Acting Chairman of Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Allocation Commission (RMFAC), and the initiation of criminal prosecution against him.
Mark Gbilla, Chairman of the House ad-hoc committee investigating the data collection processes, verification, maintenance and usage by the commission, made the disclosure on Tuesday in Abuja, during the commencement of the investigative hearing by the committee into the activities of RMFAC.
Gbilla said at the investigative hearing that the committee was constituted by the House to carry out this assignment since January 31, 2018 but that the acting chairman had refused to cooperate with the committee, thereby delaying and frustrating the legislative processes.
The lawmaker said the commission’s officials have shown intentional recalcitrance in their refusal to honour the committee’s requests for information and invitations, “including their condemnable and unlawful official instruction via correspondence to another tier of government not to honour the constitutional requests of a legitimate committee of the National Assembly”.
The lawmaker added, “In line with the provisions of section 89(1) (d) of the 1999 constitution as (amended), section 6(1)(2)(3) and section 11(a) (b) of the Legislative Houses (Powers &Privileges) Act, the Rt. Hon. Speaker of the House of Representatives has approved the initiation of statutory sanctions (issuance of an arrest warrant and criminal prosecution) against the Ag. Chairman and management of the RMFAC and will not hesitate to approve same against any party who refuse(s) to honour the constitutional requests of the committee.”
The lawmaker had frowned at the fact that the chairman and members of the commission did not turn up for the investigation on Tuesday, accusing them of being incapable of running the commission, which meant a lot to the entire country.
The legislator vowed that his committee would not be deterred from carrying out its critical mandate in the interest of Nigerians, and in line with the legislature’s culture of transparency, accountability, and fair hearing, as enshrined in sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 constitution.
The lawmaker claimed that RMAFC’s failure to undertake a review of the 2012 Horizontal and Vertical Allocation Sharing Formula after over five years had stifled equitable revenue allocation formula and, by so doing, good governance.
He argued that the review had become necessary given the impending implementation of the new N30,000 minimum wage across the 36 states and 774 LGAs of the federation.
The lawmaker also noted that the present revenue sharing formula was skewed in favour of some states and local councils of the federation and described the development as unfortunate.
He regretted that apart from Benue, Bauchi, and Plateau states, which honoured the invitation, 33 other states did not appear or send representatives at the hearing, adding that they would continue to hold them accountable to all funds entrusted to them for public use.
Also, the committee frowned at the fact that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), among other revenue generating agencies, which were invited for the investigative hearing, also failed to honour it.
Gbilla stressed that the public hearing was a platform to avail relevant stakeholders an opportunity to articulate facts and enable the committee inspect and verify data to ensure the adoption of appropriate, equitable revenue allocation formula based on accurate indices, and devoid of bias.
Earlier, in his opening remarks, Speaker Yakubu Dogara, who was represented at the hearing by Binta Bello, Deputy Minority Whip (PDP, Gombe), said the hearing was necessitated by the need to “shed light on data management operations of RMFAC in the light of allegations of infractions.”
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