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| Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State |
By: Victor Efeizomor
Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State Friday expressed
support for the Sovereign Wealth Fund and charged the federal government to
ensure effective participation of all the states in the management of the
initiative.
He gave the charge in Asaba during the second anniversary
lecture of the fifth Assembly of the Delta State House of Assembly.
The governor explained that state governors were not against
the establishment of the SWF “per se, but the way and manner” in which it was
being managed.
“We are not against the Sovereign Wealth Fund. States should
be able to decide the amount to save and what to do with their savings since
they are not appendages of the federal government,” he said.
The Federal Government and the 36 states have been at
loggerheads over the SWF for sometime now.
The case is presently before the Supreme Court. The court
has since asked the Federal Government and the state governors to explore
out-of-court settlement. Only this week, 36 state finance commissioners walked
out of the monthly revenue allocation meeting in Abuja over a number of issues,
including deductions for the SWF.
Uduaghan also called for the immediate review of the Value
Added Tax Law to enable state governments collect VAT in their locality and
remit an agreed percentage to the federal government.
He explained that the idea of VAT being collected and shared
to states that abhor some of the VAT items like alcohol was unacceptable.
“We collect VAT on alcohol in Delta State and the money is
shared to some states in the North where alcohol is prohibited. This is not
acceptable.”
The governor also advocated for the practice of true Fiscal
Federalism in the country “to enable federating states have access to their
resources for maximum development.”
He stated that the practice of Fiscal Federalism would
create the opportunity for states to develop their mineral and other resources
and improve their revenue bases.
“This would engender healthy competition among the various
states in the federation and enhance infrastructure development.
“The issue of Fiscal Federalism is dear to all state
governors. If we are practicing true Fiscal Federalism in this country, the
state governors will not need to go to Abuja to beg or lobby for what is
rightfully theirs.”
The governor commended the Delta State House of Assembly for
its contributions to the development of the state explaining that the constant
dialogue between the legislative and executive arms had led to the
developmental strides in the state.
Speaking further, the governor commended Deltans for the
support given so far to his administration and charged politicians to be
peaceful and eschew violence and acts that would heat up the polity as 2015
election activities begin.
In a welcome address, the Speaker of the Delta State House
of Assembly, Victor Ochei explained that the idea of the public lecture was to
deliberate and proffer solutions to topical national issues.
The speaker said that Delta State Government was promoting
the “Delta Beyond Oil” initiative to help develop other sectors of the economy
explaining that taxation was one of the means being used to achieve the
initiative.
Ochei said the idea of Fiscal Federalism suggested that each
tier of government in a federating state would be allowed to pursue its own
financial policy initiative explaining that it would ensure rapid development
of the country.
In his speech, the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu
said fiscal federalism and strengthening of democratic institutions were issues
that needed to be addressed “if Nigeria is to move forward as a sovereign
country.”
Ekweremadu said: “a federating arrangement where the units
converge at the federal capital every month like spoilt adults to be bottle-
fed with free money without thinking of how to make their own money is what I
have often described as a feeding bottle federalism. And typical of free money,
this culture has had a lottery effect on the nation.
“This culture of free money has also affected our national
attitude to taxation as a catalyst for socio-economic development, as the
citizenry regard the allocations from the centre as a national cake. There is
aloofness among them towards resources that are not accruing from and impacting
their individual pockets in the form of taxes.
“The poor economic health status of most states, their poor
development indices and high debt profiles are all concrete evidence that
feeding bottle federalism is a huge disservice to industry, creativity,
enterprise, responsible governance and national development.”
Ekweremadu explained that
fiscal federalism and enhanced resource control had become a reoccurring
decimal in the constitutional amendment process since 1999, “but unfortunately,
they have failed to garner the requisite support to scale through due to
embedded fears which he said is unfounded.”
Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Emeka
Ihedioha in his lecture titled: “Legislative Issue in Fiscal Federalism” called
on the states to tap into other areas of resources to generate revenue.
“While we confront the problems facing us a nation, it’s an
achievement that the country has marked fourteen years of uninterrupted
democracy. The challenges facing all of us is to ensure that the remaining two
years left of our mandate, at all levels of government is to justify the trust
of the people and provide democracy dividend.”
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