FG needs strategic approach to meet revenue target, create jobs – experts

Experts in the economic and financial sector have urged the Federal Government to take strategic steps towards meeting revenue projection as estimated in the nation’s annual budget.

Though, they said that Nigeria’s revenue shortfall has hindered the implementation of some of the critical infrastructure, meeting revenue targets will help in reducing the poverty level in the country and tackling insecurity.

Speaking as a panelist at the 2022 budget roundtable organised by the Centre for Economic Policy and Development Research (CEPDeR) of Covenant University, Otta in Ogun State, Gabriel Okeowo, country director of BudgIT Nigeria, said there is a need for the Federal Government to be more strategic in its move to address revenue projected in the annual budget.

According to Okeowo, the critical infrastructural challenge currently facing Nigeria requires a more modern approach by the government for it to be addressed.

Jimi Ogbobine, head of consulting at Agusto Consulting Limited, said the easiest way to solve unemployment is for the Federal government to create an enabling environment for the private sector to thrive.

He said that this will increase the number of employment opportunities in the country.

Earlier in her keynote speech, Patience Oniha, the director general of Debt Management Office (DMO), said the Federal Government is committed to bridging the infrastructural deficit to attract foreign investment into the country.

Oniha, who spoke on the topic: ‘National Budgeting for Economic Recovery and Sustainable Development in Nigeria,’ said that most of the critical infrastructure built by the Federal Government has been funded from internal and external borrowing.

According to Oniha, government borrowing is not necessarily a ‘bad’ as IMF states that ‘borrowing can enable countries to finance important development projects and programs’.

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She listed some of the infrastructure built by the Federal Government to include Lagos-Ibadan Expressway; 2nd Niger Bridge, train station, Lagos and Enugu Airport changed from local to international.

“The Nigerian government has successfully utilised borrowing as a tool for economic recovery to bring the economy out of cycles of recessions, first in 2017 and second in 2021. Government borrowing can also support other sectors of the economy that can attract foreign investors and have multiplier effects on the country,” she said.

She said that the current nation’s debt profile to GDP ratio stands at 22 percent as the maximum debt ratio to GDP of any country should not exceed 40 percent.

Oniha further said that the debt profile was fast-growing as the country has a huge infrastructural deficit.

She however said that the government was working tirelessly to diversify revenue sources to reduce pressure on crude oil, which is prone to volatility.

Oniha added that spending on infrastructure by the federal government was meant to create job opportunities for teeming youths.

Earlier in his welcome address, Abiodun Adebayo, vice-chancellor, Covenant University, Ogun State said the natural and human resources endowment have placed Nigeria in a position to play a prominent role in the global economy.

Adebayo stressed the need to harness the nation’s socio-economic potential so as to achieve a meaningful economic growth.

The university don further said that Nigeria’s economic growth is be-devilled by supply constraints including shortage of essential skills and appropriate technology to drive growth, energy, foreign exchange and unfriendly business regulations.