Electoral Law Reform Impasse Deepens After Long Senate Meeting

…Senate May Consider Increasing FG’s Statutory Allocation

ABUJA – There seems to be no end in sight for the stalemate on the Electoral Law re­form as Senate came out of a five hours closed-door meeting but refused to ad­dress the press on the matter.

A similar closed-door meeting was held last week leading to the formation of the ad-hoc committee to address all concerns expressed by the senators at the closed door executive session.

The Senate had referred the Indepen­dent National Electoral Commission (INEC) bill to a special ad-hoc committee and asked members with any concern to approach the committee with it.

However, all expectations of amica­ble resolve of the stalemate on the bill was dashed on Tuesday as the senators walked away after the closed-door meet­ing without looking at the side of wait­ing journalists nor answer any question from them.

Senate May Consider Increasing FG’s Statutory Allocation

Meanwhile, the Senate may consider a motion seeking an al­teration of the revenue sharing formula as contained in the 1999 constitution, among the three tiers of government.

The motion, being proposed by Senator Sunday Karimi (Kogi West), seeks an upward review of the revenue allocation that goes to the Federal Government.

Though among the three tiers of government in the current revenue allocation formula, the Federal Government takes the lion share of 52.68% as against 26.72% given to the 36 states and 20.60% given to the 774 local gov­ernment councils but the Sen­ate through a bill sponsored by Senator Sunday Karimi ( Kogi West) wants more revenue for the Federal Government.

Explaining the intent of the bill which scaled first reading to journalists after the plenary, Senator Karimi said the pro­posed legislation basically seeks to rescue the Federal Govern­ment from grossly inadequate revenue to enormous responsi­bilities which, according to him, is getting it suffocated.

“The proposed alteration seeks to increase Federal Gov­ernment’s revenue allocation to address mounting financial obligations and national respon­sibilities across Nigeria.

“The current revenue shar­ing formula is outdated and unsustainable because it places excessive financial pressure on the Federal Government amid rising infrastructure decay and insecurity nationwide.

“There is a need for adjust­ment in the revenue allocation coming to the Federal Govern­ment so that we can have a slight increase in what is coming to the Federal Government for it to meet its responsibilities”, he said.

He explained further that federal roads nationwide have deteriorated badly, while huge resources were committed to combating banditry, terrorism, and other security threats across the country.

“Responsibilities borne by the Federal Government, particularly the construction and maintenance of federal roads across the country, have become overwhelming under the existing revenue formula aside the enormous responsibilities on internal security .

“So what is needed now is an adjustment in the revenue allocation formula to increase the Federal Government alloca­tion”, he stressed.

Karimi added that inade­quate funding also affected the military’s fight against terror­ism which, according to him, will be solved through increased revenue to the Federal Govern­ment.