 |
| Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) [Photo Credit: The Tide News Online] |
Over N10 billion has been proposed for approval and release from the federal government's stabilisation fund account by the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC).
This information was released on Thursday by Mohammed Bello, the commission's chairman, via a statement from Christian Nwachukwu, the RMAFC's spokesman.
Over the past two years, several states have received clearance for and disbursement from the stabilisation fund account.
According to Mr. Bello, such a suggestion was in accordance with the legal requirement that established the stabilisation fund.
He said that the law also gave the panel the authority to determine an appropriate threshold using funds from the stabilisation account.
The chairman claimed that Cross River was one of the states that profited from it.
He added that the state had a five-year renewable recommendation for the monthly payment of N500 million from the stabilisation account since 2008.
This, according to Mr Bello, is part of the federal government’s effort to settle and stabilise displaced Nigerians who relocated from Bakassi Peninsula to the state.
However, this was after Nigeria ceded the peninsula to Cameroon in 2008.
Furthermore, Mr Bello said the act that established the fund was specifically for any state of the federation that suffered “absolute” decline in its revenue arising from factors outside its control.
The chairman said the stabilisation fund would be used to initially augment the allocation to that state in accordance with acceptable ways to be worked out by RMAFC.
Moreover, he said the recommendations from the commission for approval and payment was always in the local currency, naira.
(NAN)