Peter Mbah: Enugu still excluded from 13% derivation despite status as oil-producing state

Peter Mbah, governor of Enugu, has urged the federal government to begin remitting the state’s share of the 13 percent oil derivation fund.

Mbah spoke on Tuesday while receiving the indices and disbursement committee of the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation, and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) at the state government house.

The governor said despite a December 2022 communication from RMAFC confirming Enugu’s oil-producing status, the state is yet to benefit from the derivation funds tied to three oil fields in the Anambra river basin.

“We still have this pending issue of Enugu State being recognised as an oil producing state, which your Office actually communicated to us sometime in December 2022 based on the report of the Inter-agency Technical Committee,” he said.

“The Committee came up with a recommendation that Enugu should be benefiting from the 13 per cent derivation of the Anambra River Basin 1, Anambra River Basin 2, and Anambra River 3. But we have still not benefited from those fields.

“So, it is our hope that your Office will put the necessary machinery in motion to ensure that we begin to benefit from that.”

Calling for equity, Mbah said his administration has significantly increased the state’s internally generated revenue (IGR) by more than 400 percent, using technology to widen the tax base and plug revenue leakages.

“It is our hope that your indices also would be updated to reflect that much growth in our domestic revenue,” he said.

“We hope to actually surpass that. Our IGR in our 2025 budget is over 500 billion. And from the indications, we are going to surpass that projection.”

The governor said the state ensures full remittance of revenues to local governments, and supports them with additional funds for capital projects — a gesture he described as a commitment to transparency and accountability.

In response, Ismaila Mohammed Agaka, RMAFC commissioner representing Kwara state and leader of the delegation, commended Mbah for deploying public funds to visible development projects.

“Before we came, we thought it was one of those media blitz that accompany the activities of state governors. But we have gone around,” he said.

“We have seen for ourselves the work going on. I particularly noted that illegal structures have no place again in Enugu.

“And that is the way it should be. There should be sanity and discipline in the way we do things; and we have seen evidence of that, sir.

“I am pleased to note that the Smart Schools, and the Health Centres across the 260 wards are very commendable.

“It clearly demonstrates the fact that it is clearly the government of the people by the leader of the people in the overall interest of the people.”

Agaka explained that the RMAFC team was in the state to monitor how federal allocations are disbursed to the state and its local government councils.

In 2022, Mbah, as the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Enugu, said he would ensure the state produces oil if elected governor in 2023.