Timothy Olawale, the director general of Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) has asked the Federal Government to prioritise the development of non-oil sectors as well as consider disposing its assets to earn more revenue.
Olawale believed that continued reliability on oil and borrowing to fund federal and sates’ budgets would continue to leave the economy in precarious state.
He spoke against the backdrop of the 2020 national budget presented on Tuesday by President Muhammadu Buhari to a joint session of the National Assembly. Buhari presented N10.33 trillion with a projected Federal Government revenue of N8.15 trillion, reflecting a deficit of N2.18 trillion. Some analysts, including members of the Senate have expressed doubts that the government would earn the projected revenue given the state of the economy.
Olawale noted that among the low hanging fruits that the government could take advantage would be to dispose its non-oil assets.
“The Federal Government should as a matter of urgency commence disposing its non-oil asset and gradual improvement in the output will increase non-oil revenue.”
He advised that the government to strengthen its capacities in the non-oil sectors to earn improved revenues just as he pointed to the volatility of oil prices in the international markets.
“The oil benchmark of US$57 per barrel is proposed in the budget, which reflects a reduction from $60 per barrel in the 2019 budget. However, “the benchmark price is just slight above the current average price of $58 witnessed for eight months in 2019, that any further impact on the global economy could result in the crash of global oil price as there is reduced demand globally due to slow down in global economy, which the IMF and World Bank forecasted in their recent reports,” said Olawale
JOSHUA BASSEY
