Ahmed: Poor Funding Threatens Economic Growth Plan

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs.

Zainab Ahmed has raised the alarm that the Economic Growth and Recover Plan (EGRP) of the federal government is under threat due to poor funding,

This is coming as the Work Bank and the Chairman of Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) and Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, have called on the state governments to expand their revenue base for improved infrastructure.

The minister who spoke yesterday at the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF)’s Peer Learning Programme, also said, “regarding the 2019 Budget, as at June 30, the actual aggregate revenue as per our Fiscal Accounts was N2.04 trillion, indicating a revenue shortfall of 42 per cent, due to underperformance of both oil and non-oil revenue targets. Similar revenue shortfalls have been experienced since 2017, when the ERGP was launched, resulting in serious deviations from our targeted revenue and expenditure projections.”

According to the minister, Nigeria requires about $3 trillion over the next 30 years to sufficiently address its infrastructure deficit.

To achieve all these, the minister, who was represented by a director in her ministry, Dr. Isreal Igwe, explained that the country needs fiscal sufficiency and buoyancy, which must come through domestic revenues for it to be sustainable.

“We currently have a pervasive revenue generation problem that must change to successfully finance our development plans. Speaking to the facts, our current revenue to GDP of eight per cent is sub-optimal and a comparison of oil revenue to oil GDP and non-oil revenue to non-oil GDP performance reveals the significant area that requires immediate and dire intervention as the non-oil sector.”

Speaking at the event, Fayemi charged the state commissioners of finance on the need to expand the revenue base so that governors can provide to citizens quality health care and education, world-class infrastructure, in addition to providing social safety to the underprivileged.

He said that the recent fiscal crises of 2015 and 2016 proved that over the years, the country has not done enough to reduce dependence on oil, adding: “We must work towards closing the wide revenue gap in order to position the country to meet the growing development needs”

“This responsibility lies in the capacity of our revenue authorities to improve tax administration capacity and governance especially in the non-oil sectors of the economy.”