Professor Mbam, who spoke today, November 4 when he appeared before the Committee of the Federal House Representatives Committee on Finance, said the commission has started the process of reviewing the existing Revenue Allocation Formula.
“The cost of governance in Nigeria is very high and has continued to be on the increase and this is clearly unsustainable as no country can develop with such a high level of recurrent expenditure.
“Some of the reasons responsible for this include duplication of Agencies of Government with virtually similar functions and responsibilities, corruption, unlimited number of political appointments, wasteful spending; ghost workers syndrome, etc.
“Recommendations to ensure cost reduction include avoiding unnecessary duplications of agencies with similar functions, reduction in number of political appointees to the barest minimum as recommended in the commission’s remuneration package, strict compliance with approved remuneration packages of office holders, and ensuring prudent spending of government funds.”
He complained about the management and operation of special funds like Stabilization Fund, Ecological Fund and Development of Natural Resources Fund for their respective purposes have been a source of concern to the commission because of the absence of an all-embracing management structures to manage the funds.
He said that sometimes, these funds are applied outside the objective of their establishment, saying: “the commission wishes to state that these funds are supposed to be kept in trust by the Federal Government on behalf of the Federation.”
