FIC Report (Nasarawa State) – Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State has called for improved revenue allocation to the state, saying the current sharing formula does not reflect the reality of the state’s fast-growing population.
Governor Sule spoke on Monday at the Government House, Lafia, when he received a team from the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC).
The RMAFC team led by Waziri Ahmed Hassan, were in the state to verify and update population and demographic data ahead of a review of the national revenue allocation formula.
The Governor told the team that Karu Local Government Area has become the fastest growing council in Nigeria, with number of registered voters alone rising from about 100,000 to over 730,000 within a few years, a trend that mirrors the explosive growth in the area’s population and economic activity.
He said this growth was not being matched by a corresponding increase in the state’s share of federal revenue.
Governor Sule explained that although Nasarawa State’s internally generated revenue has grown significantly since 2019, the state remains among the least funded from federal allocation.
He appealed to the RMAFC to take into account the true population and economic weight of areas like Karu in its ongoing review, stressing that Nasarawa State was not asking for favours but simply wanted the data to reflect the facts on ground.
Speaking further, Governor Sule drew attention to the potential of deep onshore oil operations in Nasarawa State, recalling that former President Muhammadu Buhari had in 2023 flagged off the drilling of the first exploration well in Obi Local Government Area, following confirmation of oil deposits in commercial quantity along the Benue Trough, with reserves also identified in Keana.
He said the exploration work, which was expected to lead to a tie-in of the wells into a central flow station, was however stalled, a situation he described as unwise given the volume of oil said to exist in the area.
The Governor stressed that it was in Nigeria’s interest to pursue deep onshore oil operations in locations such as Nasarawa, the Kolmani area and the Chad Basin, alongside the country’s traditional offshore and coastal production in the Niger Delta, noting that such diversification reduces logistics costs and guards against the risk of a single production zone being disrupted.
He cited Saudi Arabia and the United States as examples of countries that have spread oil production across multiple onshore fields rather than concentrating it in one location, and urged the RMAFC to look beyond revenue sharing to also champion the derivation principle, so that oil and solid mineral producing areas like Nasarawa State can benefit directly from the resources within their domain, in addition to what accrues to the federation account.
Governor Sule commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for his fiscal reforms, particularly the unification of the foreign exchange rate and the removal of the fuel subsidy, which he said had significantly boosted revenue accruable to states.
He noted that Nasarawa State, being transparent in its dealings, has benefited from the reforms, with monthly allocations rising from as low as N3.6 billion in the early years of his administration to between N13 billion and N15 billion presently.
The Governor pledged the state’s full cooperation with the RMAFC team throughout the verification exercise and expressed hope that the outcome would finally translate into a fairer allocation for Nasarawa State.
Earlier, the leader of the RMAFC delegation, Waziri Ahmed Hassan, said the exercise was part of the commission’s constitutional mandate to periodically review the revenue allocation formula in line with current realities.
He commended Governor Sule for his achievements in governance and sought the state’s cooperation in providing access to data, local government areas, and relevant officials to ensure a credible verification process.
ARI, LIMAN AMINU.
HEAD OF CENTRE,
FIC, LAFIA.
