Nigeria’s Problem Remains Revenue Generation – Ahmed

• Nigeria’s Problem Remains Revenue Generation – Ahmed

Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, does not have debt issue but revenue generation problem, Nigerian Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, declared on Monday.

The Minister disclosed this during a meeting with the management staff of the Ministry of Budget and National Planning.

“There is a lot of insensitivity around the level of our debt.

“I want to restate that our debt is not too high; what we have is a revenue problem.

“Our debt is still very much within a reasonable fiscal limit. In fact, amongst our comparative countries, we are the least in terms of borrowing.”

The minister said government is working on improving revenue generation from the current 55 percent to 85 percent in the next four years.

“If we don’t do that we will continue to suffer significantly in our capacity to service the national budget,” she warned.

She further said the ministry of budget and national planning needs to coordinate effectively the donor agencies operating in the country.

“Donor coordination rests on the shoulders of this arm of the ministry. We want to call, as early as possible, a meeting of all donors so that we will discuss with them and give them a clear direction on what and where we want their intervention.”

It should be recalled that the Minister once said at 20  percent to GDP, Nigeria’s debt remained one of the lowest in Africa and across the world.

She, however, said revenue to budget at about 25 percent remained low and has made it almost impossible to cover projected budget expenditure.

She told the budget ministry that the Federal Government would call for a meeting with donor agencies across the country, where the organisations would be furnished on areas their interventions were needed.