Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria will save N8 trillion annually from the fuel subsidy removal and exchange rate unification policies, according to projections offered by the Chairman of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, Mr Taiwo Oyedele.
Mr Oyedele said this whole speaking during a panel session at the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry 2024 Economic Outlook and Budget Analysis held on Tuesday.
He said, “The Nigerian people made sacrifices as a result of the fuel subsidy removal of the government; that is N4 trillion savings a year. We did naira floatation. It is not perfect. We are also saving another N4 trillion. So we are having about roughly N8 trillion transferred from the private pockets of the people to the government.”
He said it was critical for the government to spend the amount saved from the two policies to ease the suffering of the average Nigerian.
President Bola Tinubu had last year instituted both policies as an avenue to raise the much needed revenue and to block funds been haemorrhaged by the policies.
“So, what we are saying to the government is can we be intentional in spending this N8 trillion to make sure that it impacts the people most positively? Starting with the multidimensional poverty, why is it that more than 133 million people in Nigeria are living in multidimensional poverty?” he quipped.
“These are the conversations we are having now. We want to build a platform where we can track how these monies are being spent,” he added.
“In the committee, we tried to look at the most pressing issues we face as a country — inflation, forex instability, lack of investments. One of our recommendations is for the government to suspend some taxes. We call them nuisance taxes because they frustrate people, and we can’t even see the money in government treasury.”
According to Mr Oyedele, there is an urgent need to create digital opportunities for the Nigeria’s growing youthful population because the country has enough capacity to generate $20 billion annually from the technology sector.
Mr Oyedele also said there was an urgent need to promote exports, including services and intellectual property.
“Before you start exporting goods, you can export services and intangibles,” he said.
He also said that out of the $20 billion diaspora remittances recorded in 2023, more than 90 per cent of the funds did not arrive Nigeria in foreign currencies because of existing loopholes which allow middlemen to divert the foreign currencies and pay the recipients of the funds in Naira.
“For example, just asking Nigerian companies and businesses to pay taxes in Dollars is about $3.5 billion annually, but we sat and thought about it, and wondered how the idea came about.
“How does it help us, that a Nigerian company will go to the market to go and look for the little Dollars that is in Nigeria so it can use it to pay the government of Nigeria? So, just amend the law and you will take that pressure away.”
