By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The federal government has expressed worry over the poor revenue mobilisation strategy in the country and is working tirelessly to address it.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, at the 2021 International Women’s Day (IWD) commemoration said this was top on the agenda of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
She further said the government was “also working to ensure that our public financial management processes are more gender-sensitive and that credible disaggregated data is available. Such a focus will yield sustainable and scalable change.”
Mrs Ahmed said, “To make the critical investments necessary to close the gender gap and secure the economic empowerment of women and girls, we must address the longstanding challenge of domestic revenue mobilisation. We are, therefore, working to develop the second phase of the Strategic Revenue Generation Initiatives (SRGI).”
According to her, the administration of Mr Buhari has continued to make life better for women, noting that through the implementation of Finance Acts 2019 and 2020, the federal government of Nigeria is providing tax relief and other support to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), many of which are women-owned.
“We are also scaling up existing and developing new interventions at the intersection of gender equality and fiscal policy/public financial management.
“These include gender-responsive budgeting, and assessments of the gender responsiveness of key fiscal interventions (including fiscal stimulus packages) with specific commitments aimed at improving the safety, livelihoods, and economic status of women and girls.
“This is an area in which we at the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning are focusing more deliberately and will be prioritising, in partnership with the Ministry of Women Affairs and other critical stakeholders,” she said.
In her opinion, gender equality and women’s economic empowerment remain critical to ensuring inclusive and sustainable development. “If we fail to act now, the goals espoused in the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the African Union’s Agenda 2063 will remain out of reach.”
The Minister noted that this year’s theme Women in leadership: Achieving An Equal Future In A COVID-19 World is a resounding call to celebrate the unfailing resilience and inspiring leadership of women and girls around the world.
“At the country level, our champions include, the Minister of Women Affairs, Dame Pauline Tallen, who has been a tireless advocate for gender equality and has taken a bold stand in the campaign to end violence against women and girls.
“Internationally, we can count Deputy Secretary-General, Mrs Amina Mohammed, and recently appointed World Trade Organisation (WTO) Director-General, Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, amongst our gender advocates and champions of change.”
