The federal government has said it plans to raise the nation’s revenue to Gross Domestic Ratio (GDP) ratio to 15 per cent by 2023 under its Strategic Revenue Growth Initiative (SRGI) launched early last year.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Hajiya Zainab Ahmed who made the remark yesterday, also stated that government has identified various revenue initiatives that could potentially generate 13-18 trillion naira across both oil and non-oil sources within the same period.
Analysis of revenue data shows that as at 2018, Nigeria’s Revenue to GDP ratio stood at about 8 per cent, significantly below many comparator countries on the continent, as well as the continent average. It was also below the ERGP target of 15 per cent.
“Importantly, we recognized that the support of States would be necessary to achieve the 15% target. In fact, the States would need to cumulatively generate about 3.4 trillion naira,” the Finance Minister said in her keynote address during a webinar tagged “leveraging data to drive inclusive policy, revenue generation and improved governance.”
Hajiya Zainab noted that accurate and reliable data is also essential in plugging revenue leakages, adding, data is equally relevant for identifying new sources of revenue. “It is not enough to simply plug leakages; new sources of revenue are a necessary complimentary strategy,” she added.
The Minister said there is need to identify sectors of the economy that can benefit from fiscal and tax reforms while expanding the base and/or rate for such taxes. The goal is to ensure that such policy decisions are driven, not by ideology, but by data.
Zainab said there is need to consider how to design appropriate tax policies sufficient enough to generate revenue from growth in that sector without constraining it. This she said, may be through greater formalization of the sector, providing incentives for operators to enter the tax net.
On his part, Statistician-General of the federation and CEO of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Yemi Kale said it is when the statistics office is able to collate, understand and interpret data correctly, as well as identify key areas in the society or the economy that require change, “that the policy prescriptions and direction of our governments and businesses are more likely to respond to the real needs of our communities.”
He said Nigeria still needs to address the challenge of resistance to data sharing internally, which is reinforced by the realization that with transparency comes accountability, or the common misconception that sharing data means the loss of ownership or visibility as it relates to the information being shared.
“We also need to address the capacity and skills gap within government which is required to ensure timely and reliable transmission of administrative data,” he urged.
