‘How I handled leaders as RMAFC boss’

Late Engineer Hamman Tukur, who was the Chairman of the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), granted a number of interviews to the Herewith, we reproduce an excerpt of his interview which was published in the of Sunday, January 10, 2016.

Daily Trust: How will you describe the viability of the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission in your time and now?

Engineer Hamman Tukur:

You see, this revenue mobilization commission is saddled with the task of mobilizing the entire resources of this country and allocate it to the best of its ability. So, every single politician or public office holder in Nigeria, from the president to the local government councillors have their salaries allocated by the commission.

Let me tell you a story, during my time in office we once went to the Aso Rock to meet former President Olusegun Obasanjo and I told him that we were considering paying him less than the Chief Justice of the Federation because of certain considerations.

He didn’t quite argue with us because he knew that it was our work and we knew what we were doing. That is how strategic and highly esteemed our commission is. That is why when the commission is summoned by the Senate or House of Representatives to defend its budget, we first ask them to tell us who approves their own budget, because they cannot approve their budget by themselves. There was once a situation like that and when we asked them and pointed out other things, the meeting didn’t hold that day, because they couldn’t tell us who approves their own budget. The way it is that the executive arm prepares the budget and the legislature looks at it and point out grey areas before returning it back to the president.

And sometimes, budget proposal and defence are where corruption begins. This is because rather than monitoring what is given to a ministry to know how it is spent, the legislators sometimes found themselves agreeing or disagreeing with what is allocated to a ministry. There are other times when budgets are renegotiated and attempts are made to prepare it twice.

What were the challenges you faced in allocating salaries to the arms of government?

Whenever we come to allocate salaries, we look at the entire political structure. We look at the president and the executive arm and then the legislature and other sectors. Many times we research into the economic ability and viability of a sector before we make allocations. That is how we still value arms of government and know where they fit in as well as other political office holders.

No one gets more than what they deserve. This is contrary to what we know today and read in the papers that members of the National Assembly are allocating money to themselves. Nobody has such powers. Then, whatever we give you is what you get and nothing more.

Does that mean that some of the money and loans the National Assembly members allocate to themselves are wrong?

Some of the allowances, like car allowance, this and that allowance, amounting to billions of naira allocated by members of the National Assembly for themselves, are uncalled for. I don’t know under what law they are operating. No matter what, you seek approval from the executive and the executive will weigh it within the economic fortunes of the country and see whether it can be approved or not.

I read somewhere where President Muhammadu Buhari was saying that he will consider the fantastic billions of naira allocated by the National Assembly to see whether they can afford it or not. I think that is the correct thing to do and he must scrutinize things very well. That is why people were complaining about us when we were there, because we were very strict. We have to obey the rule of law and you will be surprised how fast we will develop if that culture is imbibed.

How did you handle some of the former leaders when it comes to allocating money and expenditures then?

I handle them perfectly well. There was even a time I quarrelled with the late President Umaru Yar’Adua when he wanted to take $5.3 billion. I pointed out to him that he cannot take that money. Then Yayale Ahmed was the Secretary to the Federal Government. The president asked if I knew what I was talking about by telling him he cannot take that money and use for national purpose. I said they should tell him that the Chairman of the