Economy
Declare state of emergency on revenue generation – Tinubu’s advisers
The Policy Advisory Council set up by Tinubu has advised the declaration of a state of emergency on the generation of revenue in the country.
The council additionally suggested merging the Federal Inland Revenue Service, the Nigerian Customs Service, and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency into the Nigerian Revenue Service to collect all direct and indirect taxes, as well as levies, on behalf of the Federal Government in a more efficient manner.
The submissions made by the National Economy Sub-Committee stated that the policy will be supported by the enactment of an Emergency Economic Reform Bill, which would offer the President special powers to drive the economic reform agenda and promote the delivery of sustainable and inclusive economic growth.
The council also outlined the removal of fuel subsidies, sale or concession of select government assets, transition to a transparent and unified foreign exchange rate system, deepening tax collection, and optimization of operating expenditure to reduce cost, as targets to be achieved by the President towards the achievement of some milestones within the first 100 days in office.
The council’s findings, which concentrate on fiscal and monetary policies, industry, trade, and capital market reforms, reiterated that changes at the Central Bank of Nigeria and temporary increases in fiscal protection mechanisms such as debt limits would aid in achieving N1 trillion in GDP growth and over 50 million jobs for citizens in eight years.
The council advocated fiscal measures to be pursued, including the need to attain a domestic refining capacity of two million barrels per day while creating economic opportunity for host communities.
The report reads “Ramp up production capacity to four million barrels from offshore and onshore assets within four years and grow crude oil revenue and savings into ECA and NSIA.
“Formalise illegal refineries and encourage modular refineries to create economic opportunity for the host communities.
“Aggressively grow domestic refining capacity to 2 million barrels per day in the next 8 years, including modular refineries”.
The committee proposed “a policy directive that ensures proceeds from the sale of assets to settle existing FGN debt obligations.
“List shares of strategic and profitable NNPC subsidiaries. Privatise, concession or sell down FGN’s stake in corporate assets to partners and other investors (possibly with a buyback option) to generate liquidity in the short to medium terms (focus on sub-optimal assets e.g., NNPCL refineries).
“Leverage blockchain to create and provide access to a Government land registry and regionalize and concession the power transmission grid,” it added.
Also, the advisory council recommended the extension of old naira circulation till December 2024 to resolve the cash shortage situation, if required.
It also postulates a five percent monthly gradual removal of the old notes and replacement with new notes through the deposit money banks.
“Extend the December 31st, 2023 deadline to December 31st, 2024 (if required), and bring in new notes through the deposit money banks by 5% monthly and take out the old notes through the deposit money banks by the same 5 percent to solve cash shortage.”
The policy added, “ To transform Nigeria to become Africa’s most efficient trading nation, decongest the area up to 4km around the ports and designate them for cargo, roads, and railway, enforce the Presidential directive on 48hr clearance of goods at seaports in line with Executive Order 001, redefine the performance measures of key agencies of government to emphasize trade facilitation and set up a whistle-blowing mechanism that enables and empowers transporters to report and escalate issues with the various authorities while transporting food and other critical items.”
Members of the Policy Advisory Council are Senator Tokunbo Abiru (chair), Dr Yemi Cardoso, Sumaila Zubairu and Dr Doris Anite.
