From Austine Tule, Makurdi
A group under the canopy of Benue Patriotic Front has decried the present revenue sharing formula which made federal government take the lion share.
The body which said powers be devolved to the state and local governments, therefore, proposes 25% revenue sharing formula to all tiers of government in order to diffuse concentration at the center so as to boost the revenue standing at the local government councils.
President of Benue Patriotic Front, Mr. Dan – Morgan Ihomun who made the advocacy in chat with newsmen in Makurdi noted that the remaining 25% should serve other mandatory constitutional requirements.
According to him, the budget appropriation for legislative constituency projects at all tiers of government should be scrapped and such appropriations used to increase direct funding in the education sector.
“Consequently, our academic curriculum at all levels should be changed to reflect and accommodate productiveness and modern realities.”
Mr. Ihomun pointed out that, Nigerians are apprehensive and agitative on the issue of over bogus security and protocol votes to governors which he described as one of craftiest schemes for short-changing the masses and strangulating the economy in favour of elected persons.
“We are therefore, advocating a flat rate of 7.5% of their total monthly allocation as security and protocol votes. State governments monthly internally generated revenue should be made public for the purpose of transparency, accountability and responsible governance.”
He also called on president Mohamnadu Buhari to ensure immediate signing of the law on electronic voting to upgrade from manual voting, while national data base be upgraded to accommodate such inefficiencies inherent in the system such as national ID card, Voters Card, Driving licence, International passports, ATMs, BVN and other critical identification documents.
