Taiwo Oyedele, chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, said 81 percent of Nigerians are not contributing to any productive sector of the economy.
This was revealed at BusinessDay’s Africa Trade Summit and Investment Summit themed “Reimagining Economic Growth in Africa” on Thursday.
“About 81 percent of people in employment in Nigeria are engaged in a non-productive sector of the economy. They are doing things that do not add value in the real sense of the world.
The Summit which stands as a platform for industry leaders and policymakers to share insights and form strategic collaborations that drive economic growth and development across the African continent, sought to proffer solutions to trade
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria’s unemployment rate stands at 4.2 percent in Q2’23.
Oyedele noted that Nigeria has the same unemployment rate as the United Kingdom. Meanwhile, Nigeria still has over 113 million people living in multidimensional poverty.
He said,“That is the reason why our unemployment rate is just 4.2 percent, similar to that of the UK. Our poverty rate is still one of the highest in the world. We have over 113 million people living in poverty as of 2022 and it is most likely to have increased because that was before subsidy removal and free float of naira.
Speaking on the economic challenges of the country, Oyedele noted that the government is confronted with macroeconomic issues that are triggered, in part, by politics as well as the policy environment of the country.
He added that the committee is looking towards building a spending framework, “we need to reprioritise.”
The tax leader highlighted that the committee would increase the tax-to-GDP ratio from 10 to 18 percent in the next two to three years without introducing new taxes.
“We are harmonizing the number of taxes officially 60, unofficially over 200 across all levels of government combined.”
Oyedele said the committee is looking at modernizing some laws, of which some are from the colonial masters and mending the ones that need to be amended.
