The Senate, on Wednesday, asked the Federal Government to ban importation of all materials manufactured in Nigeria and customs tariffs amended accordingly. The Senate also called on the Federal Government to ensure that all tax waivers not directly linked to non- overnmental/non-profit organisations should not be granted.
It recommended further that all tax waivers from 2015 to date should be investigated by the relevant committees of the Senate. The apex legislative assembly passed these resolutions while considering the report of the Senate joint Committee on Finance, Appropriations, National Planning, Local and Foreign Debts on the 2024-2026 Medium Term Expenditure Frame Work (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP).
The Senate also ordered investigation into all tax waivers from 2015 till date and directed that all waivers not directly linked to non-governmental/ non-profit organizations should not be granted, adding that before waiver could be approved, certain conditions must be attached as some people had been benefitting from the waiver years unending.
Addressing newsmen, yesterday evening, the Chairman of the Joint Senate Committees on Finance, Appropriations, National Planning and Foreign Debt, Senator Sani Musa, lamented that so much revenue had been lost to the waivers. He said: “We cannot continue to talk of waiver, while we kill our local manufacturers. What we have today are cartels who are not given back to Nigeria. We will take the bull by the horn.
He said that Customs told the Senate that the nation lost about N1.3 trillion to waiver, adding that it doesn’t make any economy sense, when waiver is granted and nothing is gained. In the report of the Senate Joint Committees, President Bola Tinubu will borrow N7.8 trillion to fund the 2024 budget of N26 trillion that will be presented to the National Assembly soon. In the budget, N8.2 trillion is earmarked for debt services.
In the report presented for consideration on the floor of the Senate, Sani Musa revealed that Federal government projected the reduction in inflation from 27.33 per cent to 21.4 per cent in 2024. “The total budget for the 2024 will be N26 trillion with N16.9 trillion in retained revenue, N243.6 billion for the sinking fund, the statutory transfer for the budget will be N1.3 trillion, N1.2 trillion in pension gratuity and retirees benefits.
“The total recurrent (nondebt) of N10.2 trillion, personal cost of MDAs- N4.49 trillion, capital expenditure (exclusive of transfers ) -N5.9 trillion, special Intervention (recurrent)- N200 billion and special Intervention capital N7 billion comprise the aggregate of Federal Government expenditure of N26 trillion,” the report said.
The report further read: “Following the criteria in the overview of the framework for revenues and expenses, which forms the basis of the 2024 FGN budget FGN proposed spending N26 trillion, of which N16.9 trillion was retained, new borrowings of N7.8 trillion (including borrowing from foreign and domestic), debt service to revenue ratio of 49 percent, pension, gratuities, and retiree benefits of N12 trillion, and a fiscal deficit of N9 trillion (including GOES)
“The projected N16.96 trillion revenues to the Federal Government for the 2024 fiscal year is attainable with effective revenue monitoring exercise and oversight by the relevant Committees of the National Assembly. “The projected fiscal deficit of N9.048 trillion, N10.02 and N11.48 proposed for the 2024, 2025 and 2026 fiscal years are 22 per cent, 13.6 per cent and 1 percent lower than the N11 6 trillion fiscal deficit for the year 2023.
The proposed strategy for the government in 2024 towards deficit financing is to increase funding from privatization proceeds and foreign borrowing and reduce funding from multilateral and bilateral project- tied loans, and domestic borrowing.
