Mbam raised this concern when he hosted the delegation of the Oversight Constitutional Implementation Committee of the National Assembly of the Republic of Kenya led by Njoroge Baiye at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja yesterday
The visiting committee from Kenya is in the country to understudy Nigeria’s fiscal federalism with regards to assembling global best practice in fashioning a new constitution for the Republic of Kenya
Mbam told the committee: “The operation and management of the Federation Account itself had been an area of concern. Currently the account is managed by the Accountant-General of the Federation who doubles as the accountant general of the federal government
“The position of the commission is that while the federal government should have its own accountant-general, the Federation Account should be independently managed by a separate Accountant- General of the Federation to promote transparency, accountability, checks and balances.”
The chairman noted that separating the offices will engender trust amongst the tiers of government and beneficiaries of the Federation Account.
Mbam also raised issues with the payment of statutory allocations to local governments.
He said: “The practice of joint accounts is often subjected to manipulation by the states’ supervisory authorities thus rendering the local governments financially incapacitated and our disposition is that statutory allocations to local governments should be paid directly to them.”
The RMAFC chairman also stressed that the absence of financial autonomy makes it largely dependent on budgetary allocations which are most times grossly inadequate to protect its independence and fund its operation.
