Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has underscored the urgent need for government at all levels to embark on transformative economic diversification to meet current economic realities.
Speaking at a retreat organised for members of the Mobilisation and Diversification Committee, with the theme, “Clarifying the Strategic Role of the Mobilisation and Diversification Committee and Leveraging Diversification Mandate to Drive Nigeria’s Economic Transformation” Chairman of the commission, Muhammed Bello Shehu, spoke of the need to evaluate existing revenue mobilisation frameworks, explore innovative avenue for economic diversification and strengthen collaboration with states and other relevant stakeholders.
The chairman, represented by the federal commissioner representing Kwara State, Honourable Ismail Mohammed Agaka, 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.”
According to a statement issued by the commission, the retreat was held at the Metropolitan Hotel in Calabar, Cross River State.
The committee chairman and federal commissioner representing Edo State in the commission, Victor Eboigbe, disclosed that the retreat was to carefully examine issues affecting the committee’s performance and deliberate on innovative and actionable ways to engender realistic economic diversification at all levels that will be in tune with the country’s current economic realities.
In a communique issued at the end of the retreat, the committee recommended adding the economic diversification efforts of governments at all levels as one of the proxies for sharing the revenue allocation formula. It also emphasised the need to sensitise the subnationals by collaborating with the six regional development commissions of the central government to organise zonal advocacy.
The committee urged RMAFC to develop a national Policy document on economic diversification, considering economic potential and the peculiarities of the three tiers of government. It added that the mobilisation and diversification committee should collaborate with all relevant stakeholders to obtain information that would guide it in carrying out its mandates.
Other recommendations include fostering public-private partnerships and facilitating collaboration amongst the federal, state, and local governments to boost investment and economic growth.
It called for the organisation of zonal advocacy to enhance revenue generation of the government tiers by bringing the informal sector into the tax net, using banks and the financial sector.
The committee also recommended that governments at all levels should embark on projects with huge revenue potential and job creation, and the urgent need for the continuation of infrastructural development of past administrations.
For continuity, the committee recommended that the Commission’s past programmes on economic diversification at all levels be rebranded and reorganised to reflect the country’s current economic realities.
