The Forum of State Commissioners of Finance has expressed strong support for President Bola Tinubu’s Executive Order 9, emphasizing that the directive is aimed at strengthening fiscal governance rather than merely increasing revenue. Speaking on Arise Television, its Chairman, Akintunde Oyebode, said the policy’s primary goal is to restore constitutional oversight over federation revenues and address persistent leakages in Nigeria’s oil and gas revenue system.
Signed in February 2026, Executive Order 9 mandates that all oil and gas revenues owed to the Federation be directly remitted into the Federation Account, curbing deductions and retentions by agencies. The order also requires that statutory inflows be paid in full before any expenditure or appropriation, aiming to improve transparency and accountability across the sector.
Oyebode, who is also Ekiti State Commissioner for Finance, estimated that the policy could generate approximately N1.5 trillion annually from management fees, frontier exploration funds, and gas flaring penalties. He noted, however, that this increase represents only a small fraction of the Federation Account, which receives over N30 trillion each year, stressing that the real value lies in enforcing proper fiscal practices rather than chasing incremental revenue.
While some labour unions, including the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, have raised concerns that the order could unsettle the oil sector and deter investors, Oyebode dismissed these claims. He argued that the order is about constitutional adherence, not enriching states, and highlighted systemic issues such as the dramatic decline in joint venture inflows—from $12 billion to roughly $2 billion—after the Petroleum Industry Act took effect.
Addressing fears about NNPC Limited and potential executive overreach, Oyebode described the contested sums as marginal relative to the company’s scale, citing its N4.5 trillion profit in 2024. He encouraged stakeholders to await guidelines from a government committee tasked with implementing the order, and reiterated that Executive Order 9 is fundamentally about protecting federation revenues and confronting structural leakages that have long disadvantaged both states and the federation.
source: The sun