The President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately stop the oil thieves and also review the N1 trillion waivers and concessions granted to some firms so as to be able to bridge the increasing budget deficit.
President Muhammadu Buhari Friday presented a N19.76 trillion budget for 2023 of which a deficit of N10.78 trillion is expected. This represents 4.78 per cent of the estimated GDP, above the 3 per cent threshold set by the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007. In the current 2022 budget, the budget deficit is about N7 trillion.
Lawan who noted that the economy is still challenged by a dearth of revenues urged the diversification of the economy from oil and gas owing to the massive oil theft in the sector which is currently the mainstay of the economy.
“I strongly feel that if we do not take the necessary measures to stop the thieves immediately, our economy will be devastated, as efforts to provide infrastructure and diversification of the economy would both be thwarted. It is time to take drastic and desperate measures against the thieves.
The Senate President noted that the situation becomes more unfortunate if we factor in the Budget deficit estimated at N7 trillion and the grim prospect of its increase to about N11.30 trillion as presented in the 2023 – 2025 Medium Term Expenditure Framework / Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF/FSP).
“Your Excellency, we can reduce the deficit by stopping the theft. We can also consider other options to source more revenues for the government.
Lawan noted that the diversification into real sectors like Agriculture, Manufacturing, Mining, etc is now under serious threat owing to the massive stealing of Oil which has drastically reduced the revenues available to the government.
“With conflicting figures, projections have put our losses from this malaise at between 700,000 to 900,000 barrels of crude oil per day, leading to about 29 to 35 per cent loss in Oil revenue in the first quarter of 2022.
“This represents an estimated total fall from N1.1 trillion recorded in the last quarter of 2021 to N790 billion in the first quarter of this year.
He noted that oil theft has worsened. recently as the loss has reached 1 million barrels per day, affecting efforts to meet the OPEC daily quota of 1.8million barrels per day. “Mr President, I consider the Oil thieves the worst enemies of our country. The thieves have declared war on our Country and our people.
He also called for the review of the N6 trillion waivers and concessions granted to some firms, adding such is n longer justified in a difficult period like this.
“In the same vein, we should consider taking off some of the major revenue-generating agencies from direct funding by placing them on the cost of collection of revenues, as we did for Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigeria Customs Service.
In July alone, the trio of FIRS, Nigerian Customs and the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) got N52.80 billion as the cost of collection from the government.
The cost of Collection is the amount spent on collecting revenue on behalf of the federal government. A breakdown of the N52.80 billion shows that FIRS got N25.51 billion, Customs got N11.46 billion and DPR, N7.64 billion
“In this regard, agencies like Nigeria Ports Authority, (NPA), Nigeria Communications Commission, (NCC), Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, (NIMASA), etc can be given encouraging cost of collections of revenues.
he said the National Assembly Committees on Finance and the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning should jointly look into this matter immediately as it needs a courageous fiscal policy to redress, by reducing the deficit, not just to avoid further increases in our debts, but to ensure macro-economic stability, grow confidence in the system and guarantee sustainable economic growth.
“The National Assembly will support policy frameworks geared towards prudence, transparency and accountability through rigorous appropriation.”
Lawan also called for the completion of the ongoing legacy projects of the Buhari government, stating, “Mr President, I strongly believe that the 2023 Budget should target at completion of ongoing projects, especially our legacy projects.
“This is not only because of the importance of infrastructure to the stimulation of economic activities but also to entrench the efforts as a legacy of this administration. Our focus on this sector has been exemplary and the benefit to our growth and development cannot be overstated.
“Mr President, we note the government’s drive to address the impact of climate change and reverse its effect. Though complicated and dynamic, we should not rest on our oars in dealing with issues like floods, drying wetlands, desertification, and coastline erosion.
“The menace of flooding in many parts of our country has been particularly worrisome. It has devastated homes, and disrupted families, lives and livelihoods. We will need to take proactive measures to tackle this and especially manage our Dams and other water bodies to curtail the menace of flooding, now becoming a national disaster.
“Our focus and targets should be on how to prevent these annual floods from occurring on the scale that we experience annually. This year, the floods have not only devastated families but also destroyed our infrastructure, roads particularly.
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