Ahmad Lawan, the Senate President, has made it clear that the Upper Legislative Chamber will exert pressure on a variety of revenue-generating organizations in order to secure sufficient funds to carry out the N21.83 trillion budget for 2023.
Lawan made this clear in Abuja during his 64th birthday celebration, when he emphasized that the government could no longer borrow money to fund the budget, so it would no longer be business as usual for the various revenue-generating agencies in the country.
In addition, he pointed out that, in addition to the issue of insecurity, which was being vigorously combated by the government at various levels, there was also a problem with insufficient revenue for the implementation of national development programs, which required serious attention if the cycle of deficit budgeting or incessant borrowing was to be broken.
The move, according to the Senate President, became necessary because of leaks and loopholes in tax collection and remittances to the government, as well as the country’s high debt profile and revenue shortfalls.
Lawan stated, “The government cannot continue to borrow annually because it is unsustainable.” For landmark projects and infrastructure funding, we must look within and raise more funds.
“Through relevant committees, the Senate and, by extension, the National Assembly will turn the heat on various revenue-generating agencies in order to maximize revenue generation.
Through oversight functions, the committees will ensure that each revenue-generating agency deposits every kobo earned into the national coffers.
He also said that the federal government would look into how investors and businesses can get concessions, import duty waivers, and corporate tax holidays.
He emphasized the necessity of reviewing the majority of waivers and concessions in order to reduce borrowing and increase government revenue.
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“The majority of what we do for national development relates to health and border security. I believe we must work hard to improve revenue generation and collection because it does not appear to be sustainable that we allow individuals and some government agencies to misappropriate or fail to declare the revenue they collect.
We can’t keep doing that. As a result, the Senate has decided to engage revenue-generating agencies for the remaining portion until we achieve better results.
He continued, “We will review the waivers; where the waivers cannot be sustained any longer, such waivers should be reversed or renegotiated.” However, “definitely we need to work hard to improve on the nation’s revenue generation by the MDAS and other government agencies.”
He went on to say that the alarming statistic that 133 million Nigerians live below the poverty line, as recently reported by the National Bureau of Statistics, was unjustified.
He continued, “Incidentally, the poorest states in the zone are naturally gifted with N33tn worth livestock farming but refused to be supported by the government over the decades by categorizing it as an individual business.”
He argued that the Federal Government’s diversification into livestock, which has an investment potential of N33 trillion, would alter the troubling poverty rate in favor of prosperity.
Lawan stated, “Some critics are always quick to kick against the idea of livestock development; some of them said it was a private business; however, there is nothing more private than someone who establishes a bank, liquidates the bank, and transfers the liabilities to Nigerians through AMCON.”
He continued, “AMCON currently has about six trillion naira of toxic loans on our head.”