For the country to meet up with the challenges posed by the current economic realities, there is an urgent need for governments at all levels to embark on transformative economic diversification, the Chairman of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Dr. Muhammed Shehu, has said.
Shehu spoke at the opening of the three days strategic retreat for members of the Mobilisation and Diversification Commitee (M&DC) of the Commission held on Calabar, Cross River State on the theme, “Clarifying the Strategic Role of the Mobilisation and Diversification Committee and Leveraging Diversification Mandate to Drive Nigeria’s Economic Transformation.”
The Chairman said the retreat was designed to evaluate existing revenue mobilisation frameworks, explore innovative avenues for economic diversification, strengthen collaboration with sub-nationals and other relevant stakeholders, to develop actionable recommendations suitable for inclusion in the national revenue mobilisation policy.
Represented by the Federal Commissioner representing Kwara State, Ismail Mohammed Agaka, the Chairman said, “Nigeria’s fiscal trajectory is at a crossroads. While the federal government continues to face growing expenditure needs, internally generated revenue (IGR) remains insufficient across most states. The time has come for all stakeholders to adopt a deliberate and data driven approach to revenue mobilisation and economic diversification.”
The Mobilisation and Diversification Commitee Chairman and Federal Commissioner representing Edo State in the Commission, Victor Eboigbe, disclosed that the main reason for the retreat was to carefully examine issues affecting the committee’s performance and deliberate on innovative and actionable ways to engender a realistic economic diversification at all levels that would be in tune with the current economic realities in the country.
In a communique issued at the end of the retreat, the Committee recommended the addition of economic diversification efforts of governments at all levels as one of the proxies for sharing the revenue allocation formula.
It also emphasized the need to sensitize the subnationals by collaborating with the six regional development commissions to organise zonal advocacy on the issue.
The communique further recommended that the Commission should come up with a National Policy document on economic diversification, taking into consideration economic potential and the peculiarities of the three tiers of government.
Also, it called on the committee to collaborate with all relevant stakeholders to obtain information that would guide it in carrying out its mandates.
Other recommendations include the need to foster Public-Private Partnership and facilitate collaboration amongst the Federal, States, and Local Government Councils to boost investment and economic growth.
In addition, the communique emphasized the need to organise zonal advocacy programmes to enhance revenue generation of the tiers of government by bringing in the informal sector into the tax net using banks and the financial sector.
The Committee also recommended that government at all levels should embark on projects with huge revenue potential and job contents and the urgent need for the continuation of infrastructural development of past administrations.
For the purpose of continuity, the Committee also recommended that past programmes of the Commission on economic diversification at all levels should be rebranded and reorganized to reflect the current economic realities in the country.
