THE Federal Government has identified initiatives that can generate between N13tn and N18tn for the country, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, has said.
She said the identified oil and non-oil initiatives could also help Nigeria to achieve its target of 15 per cent revenue to Gross Domestic Product by 2023.
While pointing out the need for states to cumulatively generate up to N3.4tn to meet the target, the minister said the Strategic Revenue Growth Initiative of government, which was inaugurated in 2019, would help the government in achieving this target.
She spoke during a webinar on driving inclusive policy, revenue generation and improved governance.
The minister said, “Under the SRGI, we have identified various revenue initiatives that could potentially generate N13tn to N18tn across both oil and non-oil sources, and ensure that we are able to achieve a 15 per cent revenue to GDP target by 2023.
“Importantly, we recognised that the support of states would be necessary to achieve the 15 per cent target. In fact, the states would need to cumulatively generate about N3.4tn.”
She explained that an analysis of revenue data showed that as of 2018, Nigeria’s revenue to GDP ratio stood at about eight per cent, significantly below many comparator countries on the continent, as well as the continent average.
According to her, the Nigerian economy faced serious challenges in the first half of 2020, with about 65 per cent decline in projected net 2020 government revenues from the oil and gas sector, and with adverse consequences for foreign exchange inflows.
She predicted that these challenges would continue into the third quarter of 2020.
