Blocking Leakages In Oil Industry To Help New Administration Survive

The chief executive officer(CEO), of the Center For The Promotion Of Private Enterprise(CPPE), Dr. Muda Yusuf, has demanded immediate removal of petrol subsidy regime and plugging of all identified revenue leakages in the oil and gas industry.

Yusuf, in a detailed document presenting an economic agenda for the incoming administration said, one of the key considerations to stabilize Nigeria’s macroeconomic system is to undertake a wide-ranging reforms in oil and gas industry, the regulatory environment, and pursue fiscal consolidation.

“The Nigerian economy is in a stumbling and fragile state and in dire need of a new direction.  The political transition offers a great opportunity to chart a new course,” Yusuf said in the document.

Yusuf added that the new administration should establish quality economic governance for signalling and investors’ confidence.

On the fiscal space, he said, the president-elect should reform the nation’s tax regime to ensure efficiency in tax administration, reduce tax evasion and tax avoidance and eliminate multiple taxation. The new administration should also eliminate the fuel subsidy to save an estimated N7 trillion annually, he pointed out.

The government, according to him, should also unlock more income from revenue-generating agencies through enhanced efficiency of their operations.; initiate budget reforms to ensure fiscal discipline, curb budget padding, and curb duplication of projects and review the service wide votes to ensure transparency.

On monetary policy, Yusuf called for the elimination of foreign exchange subsidies to unlock a minimum of N3 trillion revenue annually from the sale of CBN forex to the official foreign exchange window.

Yusuf also called for the removal of impediments to market mechanisms in allocation of forex. “This will boost inflows from Foreign Direct Investment, Foreign Portfolio Investment, Export Proceeds and Diaspora remittances,” he said.