By Samuel Attah
The Speaker of the House of Representatives Rt. Hon. Abbas Tajudeen, Ph.D, has said that the 10th National Assembly is ready to empower the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) to carry out its statutory mandates effectively.
Speaker Abbas, while receiving the management of the RMAFC on a courtesy call at his office in Abuja on Tuesday, decried that the commission has been battling with several challenges, including lack of adequate funding and infrastructure.
The chairman of the commission Mohammed Bello Shehu led the Federal Commissioners and other top management staff on the visit.
The Speaker received them in company of the Majority Leader of the House, Prof Julius Ihonvbere; Minority Leader, Hon Kingsley Chinda; Deputy Majority Whip, Hon Adewunmi Oriyomi Onanuga; Deputy Minority Leader, Aliyu Madaki; Minority Whip, Hon Ali Isa; and Deputy Minority Whip, George Ozodinobi, as well as several members of the House.
Speaker Abbas noted that the RMAFC was well known to him, being a member of the House Committee on Finance for eight years, from 2011 to 2019.
The Speaker also noted that he has been an advocate of additional powers for the commission, while assuring the management team of the resolve by the 10th House under his leadership to empower the agency.
The Speaker stressed the need for the parliament to come to the rescue of the Commission.
“One thing that you can take away from this meeting is that the National Assembly, this time around, will make the difference that you require,” he stated.
The chairman of the RMAFC congratulated the Speaker on his emergence on June 13, 2023, noting that “Mr Speaker was one of the greatest advocates for the Commission.”
He said the review of the Act establishing the Commission was for it “to be empowered more,” thereby “performing very well as it should perform.”
The RMAFC chairman partly said, “We need enforcement powers, better independence, better funding. We lack the funds to do the things that are mandated for us to do as a Commission.”
