By Adedapo Adesanya
The President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Mr Akinwumi Adesina, has tasked President Bola Tinubu to develop a strategy aimed at improving Nigeria’s revenue, noting that this is key to national development.
Mr Adesina, while speaking in Abuja at the 2nd Edition of Nigeria Employers’ Summit themed Trade and Non-Oil: Changing the Narratives for Rapid National Development, said Nigeria’s revenue to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio, at about eight per cent, was among the lowest globally.
He said Nigeria is currently facing huge fiscal deficits, estimated at six per cent of GDP, attributable to high public expenditures amidst dwindling revenues from crude oil exports.
The AfDB boss listed other measures that should be prioritised, including improving tax collection and tax administration, plugging leakages in tax collection and enhancing the efficiency of public investment programmes.
He also noted that the agriculture sector’s contribution to the GDP remained important and provided a sure route to sustainable revenue generation and driving the transformation of the economy.
“However, labour productivity in the sector, measured by agriculture value added per worker, has remained stagnant at around $5,500.
“Nigeria remains a net importer of food in spite of generous endowment of arable land and a favourable climate in many parts of the country.
”Between 2010 and 2020, the annual food import bill averaged $6.4 billion while food exports averaged $1.2 billion over the same period.”
According to the former minister of agriculture, ”One way to accelerate the development of agro-industrial value chains is by unlocking the opportunities in the sector.
“Including by developing and de-risking of agricultural value chains and attracting private sector food and agribusiness firms into rural areas,” he said.
According to Mr Adesina, the AfDB is supporting the implementation of a $518 million Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones’ (SAPZ) Programme in seven States and the Federal Capital Territory.
He said the bank was doing this together with its Partners, Islamic Development Bank(IDB) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), adding that there was strong interest from 20 other States, which would be supported in the second and subsequent phases.
“Through SAPZs, smallholder farmers can evolve into thriving agri-business through a combination of measures including market linkages, technology transfer and improved access to finance and other inputs,” Mr Adesina said.
The AfDB President also urged the diversification of Nigeria’s export, revenue bases and trade facilitation capacity to boost revenue generation potential.
He said the measures would address some major risks faced by the country.
According to him, Nigeria, like many other oil-exporting countries, faces several challenges related to global commodity price volatilities.
Dipo Olowookere