A former Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, has called for the implementation of fiscal federalism, where states receive funds commensurate with their contributions to the federation account.
Adewole, who also served as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, made this call during an appearance on Channels Television’s “Inside Sources with Laolu Akande” programme on Friday.
“I am an apostle of fiscal and physical federalism,” Adewole stated, advocating for states to be allowed to develop based on their own resources. He urged governors to grant local government areas the autonomy to function as an independent tier of government.
Adewole further emphasised the need for states to receive revenues based on their economic activities and resources.
“We need to look at how we share the resources of this country. If you have a law that prevents you from selling alcohol, that law should also prevent you from sharing money from alcohol. We should be honest with ourselves. States that prohibit the sale of alcohol should not share out of VAT from alcohol. Straight forward,” he said.
The former minister’s comments come amid ongoing debates surrounding resource control and the distribution of Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue among states. Many northern states, where Sharia law is practiced, prohibit the sale of alcoholic beverages but still receive a share of VAT collected from alcohol sales.
“Then we should also ask each state what they are bringing to the table. A situation where states only share money from oil is absurd and that is why we are where we are today because the other states are not bringing anything to the table,” Adewole added.
