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Revenue Sharing in the Nigerian Federation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2008

Lawrence A. Rupley
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Extract

Changes in the nature of federal financial relations were among the most striking features of the nearly 14 years of military rule in Nigeria. At the time of the January 1966 coup there was a great imbalance in the size of the four Regions, with a consequential built-in tendency for political instability. At the resumption of civilian rule in October there were 19 States of relatively balanced size, with an important rôle for the Federal Government as a mediator between them as well as an initiator of change.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 19 , Issue 2 , June 1981 , pp. 257 - 277
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1981

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References

page 258 note 1 Even so the Federal Government introduced uniform personal income tax rates and abolished produce sales taxes on export crops throughout the country in 1974.

page 258 note 2 Teriba, O., ‘Nigerian Revenue Allocation Experience, 1952–65: a study in inter-governmental fiscal and financial relations’, in Nigerian Journal of Economic and Social Studies (Ibadan), 11 1966, p. 375Google Scholar.

page 259 note 1 Nigeria, Federal Government Budget Estimates.

page 260 note 1 Source: Phillips, A. O., ‘Nigeria's Federal Financial Experience’, in The Journal of Modern African Studies (Cambridge), 9, 3 10 1971, p. 394CrossRefGoogle Scholar – updated by one year since the sharing arrangements remained unchanged to 31 March 1969. During both periods shown, the principles of revenue allocation that received primary emphasis were derivation, fiscal autonomy, and unified national policy.

page 260 note 2 This paragraph is largely drawn from Adedeji, Adebayo, Nigerian Federal Finance (London, 1969), pp. 252–3Google Scholar. For a detailed discussion of the fiscal changes and review commissions from 1952 to 1965, see Teriba, loc. cit. pp. 361–82.

page 261 note 1 Initially, the changes were expected to occur on 1 April 1965 under the Allocation of Revenue (Constitutional Amendment) Act No. 18 of 1965, but that was then changed to 1 April 1966 under the Allocation of Revenue (Commencement) Decree No. 67 of 1966 – Official Gazette (Lagos), 52, 95, 8 12 1965, and 53, 110, 6 12 1966Google Scholar.

page 261 note 2 Nigeria, The Constitution (Financial Provisions) Decree No. 15 of 1967, in Official Gazette, 27 May 1967.

page 261 note 3 Oyovbaire, S. Egite, ‘The Politics of Revenue Allocation’, in Panter-Brick, Keith (ed.), Soldiers and Oil: the political transformation of Nigeria (London, 1978), pp. 227–8Google Scholar.

page 262 note 1 Sources: Phillips, loc.cit. pp. 389–408; Nigeria, Decree Nos. 15 of 1967 and 13 of 1970; and Oyovbaire, loc. cit. p. 229.

page 262 note 2 Oyovbaire, pp. 228 and 238–9.

page 263 note 1 Sources: Federal Official Gazettes and Budget Estimates, 1969–1975.

page 263 note 2 Oyovbaire, pp. 240–1.

page 263 note 3 Ibid. p. 242.

page 264 note 1 Nigeria, Constitution (Distributable Pool Account) Decree No. 13 of 1970, in Official Gazette, 57, 12, 12 March 1970.

page 264 note 2 Nigeria, Off-Shore Oil Revenues Decree No. 9 of 1971, in Ibid. 58, 15, 31 March 1971.

page 264 note 3 Budget Speeches for 1973–4 and 1974–5. The Federal Government assumed control of marketing board pricing policy and abolished export duties on such produce in 1973; the changes culminated in the establishment of seven national Commodity Boards in 1977.

page 264 note 4 Nigeria, Income Tax Management (Uniform Taxation Provisions, Etc.) Decree No. 7 of 1975, in Official Gazette, 62, 9, 24 February 1975.

page 264 note 5 For further discussion, see Rupley, L. A., ‘Personal Income-Based Taxation in the Northern States of Nigeria and the Effect of Uniform Income Taxation’, in Bulletin for International Fiscal Documentation (Amsterdam), 32, 08–09 1978, pp. 401–10Google Scholar.

page 264 note 6 Budget Speech, 1975–6.

page 265 note 1 Source: Nigeria, Constitution (Financial Provisions, Etc.), Decree No. 6 of 1975, in Official Gazette, 62, 7, 13 February 1975.

page 265 note 2 Oyovbaire, loc. cit. pp. 242–5.

page 266 note 1 The definitive reference is Decree No. 6 of 1975, cited above. In addition, the changes are discussed in Rupley, L. A., ‘The Next Revenue Re-Allocation’, in West Africa (London), 6 01 1975, p. 10Google Scholar, and ‘Revenue Allocation in Nigeria’, in Ibid. 16 June 1975, p. 681.

page 266 note 2 Nigeria, Official Gazette, various dates.

page 266 note 3 Portions of this section are drawn from Rupley, L. A., ‘Why Nigerian Spending has Grown and Grown’, in West Africa, 4 06 1979, pp. 977–80Google Scholar.

page 266 note 4 Nigeria, Government Views on the Report of the Technical Committee on Revenue Allocation (Lagos, 1978)Google Scholar.

page 267 note 1 Sources: various State Government Budget Estimates. In order to compare the amounts of statutory grants with the total recurrent revenue, the data are taken from the Budget Estimates of the State Governments. Actual revenue figures are shown wherever possible, but all data for 1974–5 and 1975–6 are approved estimates. The amounts in this Table may, therefore, not exactly match the aggregate of the statutory grants as shown in the Federal Government Budget Estimates.

page 267 note 2 The personal income tax revenue from the armed forces, foreign service officers, and the new Federal Territory was not to be shared.

page 267 note 3 Following the local government reforms of 1976, there were 299 local governments throughout Nigeria. Ola, R. O. F. and Olowu, C. A., ‘Recent Administrative Developments in Nigeria: January 1975-April 1977’, in Quarterly Journal of Administration (Ife), 07 1977, p. 306Google Scholar.

page 267 note 4 Nigeria, , Government Views on the Report of the Technical Committee on Revenue Allocation, pp. 6–7Google Scholar.

page 268 note 1 Sources: various Official Gazettes, Federal Budget Estimates, Budget Speeches, and the President's 1980 Budget submission to the National Assembly.

page 269 note 1 Ibid. pp. 7–8.

page 269 note 2 The Committee's Report was presented by Dr O. Omoruyi, a member of the Constituent Assembly who was not regarded as politically neutral because of his previous stands on debated issues, and who unwisely questioned the autonomy and competence of the Assembly to produce an alternative revenue-sharing system. The timing of the presentation worked against the Aboyade Committee Report because it was considered just after the hard debates on the creation of more States, the Sharia controversy, and the formula for the Presidential election. Oyediran, O. and Olagunju, O., ‘The Military and the Politics of Revenue Allocation’, in Oyediran, (ed.), Nigerian Government and Politics under Military Rule, 1966–79 (London, 1979), p. 209Google Scholar.

page 269 note 3 Oyediran and Olagunju, loc. cit. pp. 206–209. For example, in the previous revenue-sharing system, half of the D.P.A. had been divided on the basis of population, and half had been granted in equal shares to each State.

page 270 note 1 Just after secession, Eastern Nigeria demanded that the oil companies pay £20 million in oil royalties to it rather than to the Federal Government. However, the British Government, as the majority shareholder in Shell-BP, vetoed a decision to comply with that demand. Pearson, S. R., Petroleum and the Nigerian Economy (Stanford, 1970), p. 139Google Scholar.

page 270 note 2 Oyovbaire, loc. cit. p. 244.

page 271 note 1 The other members of the Commission were M. Ahmed Talib, W. Uzuaga, Balarabe Ismaila, A. O. Phillips, Usman Bello, and G. B. Leton.

page 271 note 2 West Africa, 7 July 1980, pp. 1221–3.

page 271 note 3 Ibid. 1 September 1980, p. 1641.

page 272 note 1 Sources: Table 6, and West Africa, and 8 September 1980, and 9 February 1981; calculations by the author.

page 272 note 2 West Africa, 8 September 1980, p. 1735.

page 272 note 3 Ibid. 1 September 1980, pp. 1641–2. In addition to the three States already mentioned, oil production occurs in Imo and Ondo States.

page 273 note 1 Amma Ogan, ‘What Happened at the Assembly’, in ibid. 9 February 1981, pp. 261–2. The 12 non-N.P.N. Governors immediately challenged the President's interpretation of the constitution on the point of whether the Revenue Allocation Bill had been truly passed into law, bearing in mind the differences between the two Houses. See ‘What the Governors Said’, in Ibid. 23 February 1981.

page 273 note 2 In the previous year such grants had been included as part of expenditure by the Ministry of Education, as were the 1974–7 grants in support of the tremendous expansion of Grade II Teacher-Training Colleges in preparation for the beginning of U.P.E.

page 273 note 3 They may have been included in Supplementary Budget Estimates, but still should have shown up in a later year's budget when actual expenditure of that prior year is normally shown.

page 274 note 1 The Ministry total (₦ 131·8 million) amounted to nearly 14 per cent of total federal recurrent expenditure in that year, as compared with a typical amount of 1 or 2 per cent.

page 274 note 2 Some general excise revenues paid to the States during 1964–6 were shown as Non-Statutory Appropriations.

page 274 note 3 Various Federal Budget Estimates.

page 276 note 1 The establishment of a permanent review panel was recommended by the Dina, Aboyade, and Okigbo Commissions.

page 276 note 2 General Olusegun Obasanjo announced in the 1978–9 Budget Speech that State Governments were to introduce purchase tax in respect of professional fees, charges, etcetera, and hotel and catering services during 1978–9.