Ahead of the inauguration of Cabinet and assignment of portfolios to the 48 ministerial nominees awaiting Senate confirmation, the Senator representing Ondo South, Jimoh Ibrahim, has advised President Bola Tinubu to create a distinct Ministry of Revenue.
Senator Ibrahim made the appeal during a courtesy visit to the President in Abuja.
Explaining the urgent need for the new Ministry in a statement personally signed by the lawmaker on Sunday, Senator Ibrahim said the Ministry, when created, would serve as a coordinating platform for all revenue generating agencies in the country.
The envisioned ministry, according to him, was indispensable for the nation to wrangle its way out of the current socio-economic quagmire like the high debt profile.
“There are many revenue generating agencies in Nigeria today without a coordinating body or platform.
“The Ministry of Finance is not giving the required mobilisation and coordination in this regard, hence, the need for Ministry of Revenue.
“Analogically, in Nigeria over the years, we have the Ministry of Finance more or less playing the role of Bursar disbursing all the monies remitted into national coffers by generating agencies but there is no Treasurer to keep proper records of revenues generated by the various affected agencies and give them the required impetus to generate more.
“Nigeria definitely needs a national treasurer to be symbolised by the Federal Ministry of Revenue when created,” he argued.
He added that the idea has been sold to President Tinubu, who according him, saw the need for it in line with his pedigree on improved revenue generation.
He posited further that the Ministry of Revenue when created, would serve as one of the strategies through which the nation’s debt could be defrayed by serving as window for improved revenue generation to fast-track the nation’s development.
“The nation’s debts of N77trn shouldn’t be a cause for worry considering the current debt to Gross Domestic Product ratio of less than 31 per cent and required innovative ideas of defraying it,” Senator Ibrahim stated.
