Many States have also begun to adopt measures for aggressive diversification of their revenue bases in order to reduce dependency on the diminishing allocations from the Federation Account.
Agba noted that, though there had been marginal increase in the price of crude oil in the international market, the cut in daily production quota by OPEC still dwarfed the much-required revenue needed to rejig the weakened economy.
He also said that Federal government was taking steps to increase non-oil revenue generation through Value Added Tax (VAT) reforms in the Finance Act 2020, customs administration enhancement, tax incentives and exemptions, increase remittances and recovery of unremitted revenues from Government-Owned Enterprises (GOEs), increase revenues from cross-border business transactions, unlock value from FG assets that were lying idle or under-utilized, among others.
Agba therefore urged States to emulate the economic recovery steps taken by the Federal government by coming up with more policy options for a quick recovery of the economy with the following measures, among others, in mind: adopt a targeted and integrated policy response; deal decisively and proactively with public health safety issues; consider a new 2020 budget across the States to reflect new realities; and, develop sectoral responses that address immediate needs.
She thanked the various presenters, panelists, State Commissioners and other attendees, saying that the dialogue was a springboard to develop workable solutions for the national economic challenge.
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