The Governor of Abia State, Dr.Okezie Ikpeazu, has made a strong case for the enthronement of true fiscal federalism in Nigeria.
The governor made the case, when he received a delegation of the federal commissioner representing Abia State at the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Dr. Chris Akomas at the Government Lodge, Aba.
Governor Ikpeazu made the clarion call for states to make contributions to the ongoing review of the revenue sharing formula being undertaken by the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC).
He said that the state government had set up a committee, chaired by the Commissioner for Finance, Dr. Aham Uko, to make the position of state government known as soon as possible.
The governor said that true fiscal federalism is where states will have powers to manage resources in their domain and pay royalties to the federal government.
According to the governor, “during the time of M. I. Okpara, the economy of the Eastern Region of Nigeria used to be the fastest-growing economy in the world, when there was true fiscal federalism with different regions controlling their resources.
“Everyone and every region is not equally endowed by nature and such region must be allowed to enjoy the advantages of those endowments since they also live with the disadvantages of such endowments, especially environmental degradation,” he said.
The governor thanked Dr. Akomas, who is the chairman of the committee on disbursement in the RMAFC for the good work he is doing at the commission.