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Senate President Bukola Saraki has called on the Federal Government to take advantage of the N40 trillion tax revenue in the country.
This is even as he urged the Federal Government block all revenue leakages.
Delivering his speech at the presentation of the N8.612 trillion 2018 budget by President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday, he stressed the need for revenue from taxes and independent revenues from state-owned enterprises to be taken seriously by the Federal Government.
“Revenue from taxes as well as independent revenues from State Owned Enterprises must be taken seriously. If the budget is to be funded, we cannot afford to turn a blind eye to revenue under-performance.
“While there is a need to review extant laws guiding the operation of some Government enterprises, I would urge for more determined effort on the part of the Executive, to plug leakages. This sector alone accounts for over 40 trillion naira in valuation, of which less than 400 billion naira is remitted as revenue to the Consolidated Federation Account. This is not acceptable. We need to vigorously address this area,” Saraki noted.
In his budget presentation on Tuesday, President Muhammadu Buhari had expressed disappointment at the 74 percent independent revenue shortfall for 2017. He revealed that only N155.14billion was remitted to the Federal Government as of September 2017, as against the projected sum of N605.87billion.
In his remarks, the Senate President also called for sanction of federal agencies that fail to submit their budget estimates, alongside the 2018 budget proposal.
The Senate President recommended one of such sanctions to include: denying such agencies access to capital expenditure unless their budget is passed.
The lawmaker also called for review of agreements that government signed with some private sector service providers. According to him, “Many of these agreements are biased, and clearly, not in the interest of the country”.
With the $5.5billion foreign loan still pending at the National Assembly and a borrowing plan of N1.699 trillion for 2018, Saraki emphasised the need for expend such funds on projects that will stimulate the economy.
“We must ensure that our borrowing is targeted at productive projects that will stimulate the economy. We must ensure real value-for-money in projects funded by borrowing, and make doubly sure that the projects are not overpriced,” he stated.
The implementation of the 2018 budget, he said, must be anchored on the Made-In-Nigeria project and reflected in government procurements in 2018.
Although the Executive has consistently urged the National Assembly to pass the budget by December 31st, 2017 to enable the January to December financial year run effectively, the Senate President, however, submitted that early passage of the budget depends on the ‘good working relationship’ between the Executive and the Legislature.
Recall that both arms of government have been enmeshed in frosty relationship, a development that partly marred the 2016 and 2017 budgets respectively.
At the moment, the Senate is yet to confirm executive nominations in Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Independent Corrupt Practices and Other related offences Commission (ICPC), Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA), Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), National Pension Commission among others.
Saraki added: “I must commend Mr. President, the Economic Management Team, my Distinguished colleagues and Honourable members of the House of Representatives as well as all Nigerians, for working together to make the necessary sacrifices to get the economy out of recession. Without doubt, this recovery benefitted from greater policy coordination, prioritization and passage of economic reform bills, but more importantly, the resilience of the Nigerian people. Having said that, it is pertinent to note that the implementation of the 2018 Budget – how it is implemented – will be a defining element of this Administration. We must therefore continue to work together to steady the ship of this recovery.
“As the country gradually recovers, it is important to reset the fundamentals that drive our economy – so we do not slide back into recession”.
The lawmaker assured that the 8th National Assembly would stand firm on its objective of expanding economic opportunities through prioritised economic reform bills.
So far, only two of the 14 high priority economic recovery bills have been passed by both chambers of the National Assembly and signed into law by the President.
They include the Secured Transactions in Movable Assets Act (otherwise known as Collateral Registry Act) and Credit Reporting Act.
The two acts were partly responsible for Nigeria’s improved ranking in the World Bank Ease of Doing Business index for 2018 from 169th position to 145th.
OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja
