The Nigerian Governors’ Forum has agreed to a uniform template for the implementation of the Memorandum of Action on financial autonomy for state legislatures and judiciary.
This was disclosed by the Chairman of the Forum and Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, in a statement on Thursday night, in Abuja, after its 32nd teleconference meeting, according to the News Agency of Nigeria.
The NGF stated that the template was endorsed by the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) and the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASUN) to facilitate the implementation of financial autonomy for the State legislatures and judiciary, following a meeting comprising of State Attorney Generals and the Commissioners of Finance held on June 25, 2021.
However, they had concerns over other policy matters including the proposed amendments to the Principal Stamp Duties Act by the Senate, which they say removes the powers to administer and collect stamp duties from the Federal Inland Revenue Service or their State counterparts, depending on the nature of the transaction, to the Nigeria Postal Service.
“The provisions of Section 163 of the 1999 Constitution requires that Stamp Duties on transactions between a company and an individual should be paid to the FIRS and returned to the state of derivation,” the NGF added.
On the Petroleum Industry Bill, the NGF added that it fully supports the unbundling and commercialization of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), but had concerns over the proposed ownership structure of the NNPC, which the FG controls.
“The NGF recommends that given that the corporation is owned by the three tiers of government, NNPC Limited, the newly incorporated entity, should be owned by a vehicle that holds the interest of the three tiers of government.
“For now, the institution that is positioned to carry out this mandate is the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA).
“This amendment, as well as the proposed 3% share of oil revenue to host communities and 30% share of profit for the exploration of oil and gas in the basins, will be responded to at relevant channels, including the National Assembly and the National Economic Council (NEC),” NGF said.
Recall Nairametrics reported in April that the Governors’ Forum, Conference of Speakers of State Legislature, and other governance stakeholders announced that they reached a resolution over the implementation of financial autonomy for State Legislature and Judiciary.
Members of the Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN), and the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASAN) had gone on strike over the implementation of the judicial financial autonomy in a bid to draw attention to their demands.
