Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi has appealed to the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) for an upward review of the federal allocation to the state.
Umahi made the appeal on Tuesday, when officials of the commission on a sensitisation and advocacy visit to the state paid him a courtesy call at the Old Government House, Abakaliki.
He pleaded that Ebonyi be considered for enhanced revenue allocation to enable the state to address its numerous challenges, including health care and social amenities, among others.
He promised that ministries, departments and agencies of government would work with the commission to ensure the integrity of the verification and its speedy execution.
“We feel completely shortchanged and terribly bad for receiving the least allocation from federal resources.
“This is because people are not exposed to our landmark.
“So, we deserve more and qualified to take more than we are given from the allocation,” Umahi, who was represented by Deputy Governor Kelechi Igwe, said.
He expressed the hope that with their visit and having been briefed on the current challenges facing the state, the commission would act promptly to grant government’s request.
He further commended the Chairman of the commission, Elias Mbam, for approving a re-verification after results of 2018 exercise was considered by the commission to be faulty.
A Federal Commissioner and leader of the team, Phillip Ajayi, said that they were in the state to have a clear understanding of the irregularities discovered during the 2018 verification in the state.
He said, “We are here because the previous exercise for 2018 was faulty and irregularities were discovered in the process.
“So, people will be educated and we want integrity in the data verification to be beneficial to the state government and the commission,” Ajayi said.
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