The Nigeria Governors’ Forum has backed the Federal Government’s executive order requiring the direct remittance of all oil and gas revenues into the Federation Account.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria, the Governor of Kwara State and NGF Chairman, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, conveyed the forum’s position in a statement issued on Monday.
Abdulrazaq described the reform as a crucial step toward enhancing fiscal transparency, improving revenue predictability, and ensuring constitutional compliance among the three tiers of government.
He praised Executive Order 9, signed by President Bola Tinubu on February 18, 2026, which mandates the realignment of oil and gas revenue streams — including royalty oil, tax oil, profit oil, and profit gas — to ensure adherence to constitutional provisions.
The chairman said the reforms are aimed at clarifying regulatory responsibilities within the petroleum sector and reinforcing the Federation Account as the backbone of Nigeria’s intergovernmental fiscal framework.
“As a non-partisan body representing the 36 state governors of the federation, the NGF underscores that the integrity and predictability of federation account inflows are foundational to Nigeria’s fiscal federalism.
“Oil and gas revenues remain a central component of the distributable national income.
“The clarity, transparency, and predictability of those inflows directly affect capital planning, debt sustainability, infrastructure delivery, and public service provision at the federal, state, and local government levels,” Abdulrazaq said.
He noted that recent communiqués from the Federation Account Allocation Committee meetings have repeatedly highlighted discrepancies between gross revenue collections and the final amounts available for distribution.
Abdulrazaq emphasized that it is these final distributable amounts that ultimately define the fiscal capacity of subnational governments.
“When remittance pathways are layered, complex, or difficult to reconcile, fiscal predictability weakens, and that directly affects capital planning cycles across the federation at federal, state, and local government levels.
“Nigeria’s population now exceeds 220 million and continues to grow rapidly. States sit at the frontline of delivering education, primary healthcare, infrastructure, security architecture, and economic opportunity to this expanding population.
“Predictable revenue flows strengthen the ability of states to meet these obligations responsibly,” he said.
Abdulrazaq stated that establishing clear structures for remitting nationally owned resources would strengthen fiscal stability across all levels of government.
