The Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) said on Friday that the solid minerals sector generated N10.8 billion in 2015.
The acting Chairman of the commission, Shettimma Abba-Gana, disclosed this in Abuja.
Abba-Gana said the states that contributed to the revenue generated had been paid 13 per cent of the sum based on the principle of derivation.
According to him, the derivation principle affected both the oil mineral producing states and those producing solid minerals as well.
He said: “Some states did not generate much but some states did generate a lot and those states got some money.
“So virtually all the states, any revenue that came to the Federation Account from that N10.8 billion, states got their 13 per cent.
“But that is the beginning.
“They now know that they can get it so they will also now begin to monitor more and more whatever revenues in solid minerals in their states will now come into this.
“Virtually every state in the federation has some solid minerals to varying degree and to varying types and so no state should be idle, every state has something.
“Therefore, if states begin to show interest in those solid minerals in their states, they can look for investors.
“They can partner with those investors, invite them, encourage them, create an enabling environment for those investors to come and work on those solid minerals in the state.”
The acting chairman noted that the review of the 2008 remuneration packages, which began in 2015, had been concluded but was yet to be presented to President Muhammadu Buhari.
Abba-Gana said: “We have concluded it and are putting finishing touches to it and as soon as that is done, we will present it to the President and he will present it to the National Assembly.”
Abba-Gana said in 2016, the commission would be more aggressive in all its monitoring and verification activities to ensure all relevant agencies made the statutory remittances to the Federation Account.
He also said the Commission recommended to the Federal Government that new agencies should be added to those generating revenue for the Federal Government.
Some of the agencies are Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Securities and Exchange Commission and the Nigerian Communications Commission.
Some others are Nigerian Postal Service, Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria and the Nigerian Ports Authority.
Abba-Gana said the commission also recommended that the Acts and laws establishing some of those agencies should be reviewed for better output.
He said: “What the Act has done is to allow those agencies to earn their revenue, spend their revenue and only remit a surplus to the Federation Account, but quite a lot of them hardly have a surplus to remit.
“So we want to make sure that since other agencies and parts of government are going to spend less because of the decline in oil price, those agencies also have to spend less.
“We have to make sure that as much as possible beyond what they need as absolutely essential, it has to go into the Federation Account.”
Abba-Gana also said the commission would ensure that it reduced leakage and wastage through government spending.
