THE former chairman of National Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission, Alhaji Hammam Tukur, has declared as “illegal” the Sovereign Wealth Fund bill that was signed into law by President Goodluck Jonathan last Thursday.
He said this was because the National Assembly did not have any right to legislate on money in the Federation Account.
Tukur made the remarks while discussing the paper Towards the Economic Transformation and Viability of Nigerian States, Can We Break the Oil Resource Course, that was delivered as part of the activities for the inauguration of Governor Aliyu of Niger state by former Central Bank of Nigeria governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo.
Tukur said the new law was also illegal because there was an existing legislation on how to share monies in the federation account which had neither been amended or repealed.
Describing the law as “democratic dictatorship” the former chairman said that there was also no need for the Sovereign Wealth Fund because there existed a “stabilisation fund recognised by the Revenue Allocation formula” adding that he left over N196 billion in the fund when he left office.
Tukur said “we must distinguish between Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Federal Government of Nigeria which is a tier of government” adding that the federal government should stop dictating to the states.
Also discussing the paper Reverend Father Hassan Mathew Kukah submitted that Nigeria needed restructuring for her to make progress but said the way the country was adopting zoning in the sharing of political positions instead of merit would not help the nation.