Economy
No Plan to Increase Taxes—FG
By Dipo Olowookere
Minister of Budget and National Planning, Mr Udoma Udo Udoma, has disclosed that the Federal Government does not have any intention to increase taxes but is working towards increasing its internally generated revenue through the broadening its tax base.
Mr Udoma made this disclosure while responding to a comment by Senator Ben Bruce at the public hearing of the Joint Session of the National Assembly on the 2017 Budget.
The Minister said “a view has been expressed that we should not increase taxes, that we should broaden tax collection instead, that is precisely what is in the budget.”
Senator Bruce had given the impression that the Federal Government was about to increase taxes, a development he said will further worsen the economic fortunes of individuals and businesses, but the Minister said “there is no increase in VAT, there is no increase in company’s income tax, there is no increase at all in taxes, but people who are not paying taxes must be made to pay.
“So the idea is to increase revenue by broadening the tax base, not by increasing taxes.”
Some economic experts who spoke at the session had advocated government spending its way out of recession, partnering the private sector to speed up growth, planning for sustainable development, working with the state governments for integrated development, involving relevant experts and consulting widely in planning, monitoring and evaluation projects, among others.
The Minister told the gathering, which also included Civil Society Organizations and private sector operators, that virtually all the views expressed by the speakers have been captured in the 2017 Budget.
“The concerns that have been expressed are reflected in the budget. The need to spend our way out of recession is reflected in the budget. The need to spend in a way that will attract private sector spending is also reflected in the budget.
“Indeed, the thrust of the budget is to partner with private and development capital to leverage and catalyse resources for growth,” Mr Udoma stated.
He said government realized that public resources cannot be enough to drive the development process which is why the 2017 Budget is directed at catalyzing private sector resources and using PPP for a number of projects.
“If you look at housing we are putting in N100 billion but we are expecting another N900 billion from the private sector. If you look at the EPZ, we are putting in N50 billion but we are expecting a huge injection of funds from the private sector.
“So, this budget is aimed at achieving economic growth, aimed at achieving diversification, aimed at improving our competitiveness, aimed at improving ease of doing business, aimed at creating more jobs and social inclusion, and aimed at improving governance and security.”
According to him, the spending is targeted at areas that have quick transformative potentials such as infrastructure and agriculture, manufacturing, solid minerals, services and so on. The Minster pointed out that the present government believes in planning.
“When we came in, we came out with a document – the Strategic Implementation Plan for the 2016 Budget of Change. We set out short term plans for one year. We started working on a longer term plan for four years 2017 -2020; and that involved extensive consultation”.
On partnership with State governments, the Minister told the audience that the Federal Government has consulted severally with State governors and with Commissioners of Planning in all the states.
“We are working closely with the States. We even organized a Retreat in February 2016 with all the States. In all our initiatives we are working with the States.
“On Agriculture we are working with the States; we even have task forces that involve State governors. So, we are working together with the States.”
Speaking on the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, Senator Udoma said government consulted the private sector extensively.
“Indeed, just last week we met twice with captains of industry and members of the private sector to sit down and expose the plan to them and get their input.
“We are going to Council soon and subsequently the plan will be launched before the end of the month“.
The Minister said because government has bold plans which are tailored towards pulling the country out of recession, investors are changing their attitude towards Nigeria.
“People have heard of our plans; they have seen the plan because we have had extensive consultations with our development partners – with the World Bank, with IMF, with UNDP.
“They have all been exposed to our plan and we have shown them what we are determined to do, that is why people are believing in Nigeria and investing in the Eurobond.”
He was emphatic that government has a clear vision and is on a determined path to get the economy out of recession.
“We are determined thereafter to begin to go back to the path of growth, a more diversified growth, not depending just on crude oil. We want to stimulate our manufacturing sector, we want to stimulate agriculture; so we have a coherent, cohesive plan.”
The Minister of State, Mrs Zainab Ahmed said government is determined to ensure that Nigerians experience inclusive growth this time around “which is why we have the social intervention programme.
“The social intervention programme took off fully in October 2016 and all the four components of the SIP have now been rolled out in their first Phases and we are scaling up on a monthly basis,” she said.
She added that the programme will benefit greatly from the support of the National Assembly to be able to ensure that the benefits are distributed equitably and that no needy citizens are missed out.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) is seeking a reduction in import duty exemptions, which rose to N34 trillion, limiting its ability to increase its revenue generation threshold.
The Comptroller-General of the Customs Service, Mr Adewale Adeniyi, disclosed that the value of import duty exemption certificate approvals increased to that level in 2025, describing the policy as one of the major factors restricting its revenue generation.
At an investigative session of the Senate Committee on Finance with revenue-generating agencies in Abuja on Monday, Mr Adeniyi explained that government fiscal policies have continued to impact the revenue-generating capacity of the Customs Service, both positively and negatively.
“The NCS would have generated significantly higher revenue over the years if not for government-approved import duty waivers and other external factors affecting collections,” he said.
He added that the Import Duty Exemption Certificate scheme, introduced in March 2020, accounted for about N34 trillion in approvals in 2025, with nearly 60 per cent covering duty-free importation of military hardware due to Nigeria’s prevailing security challenges.
Other government-backed duty waivers, he noted, covered the importation of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), electric and hybrid vehicles, healthcare equipment and medical supplies, industrial machinery and manufacturing inputs, as well as food import intervention programmes.
While acknowledging the impact of the waivers on Customs revenue, Mr Adeniyi argued that fiscal policy should not be assessed solely on the basis of revenue generation but also on its broader economic and social objectives.
He, however, urged the federal government to establish stronger monitoring mechanisms to ensure beneficiaries of duty waivers deliver the intended economic outcomes, including lower consumer prices, increased local production and improved healthcare access.
The committee also expressed displeasure over the absence of several heads of government agencies invited to the hearing, including the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Industrial Training Fund (ITF), and the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Jabi.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Mr Sani Musa, warned that the affected chief executives must appear at the committee’s next sitting or face severe sanctions under the Senate’s rules.
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By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange rose by 0.40 per cent on Monday, July 13, buoyed by buying interest in 11 Plc, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc and UBN Property Plc, which offset the profit-taking in Food Concepts Plc, the parent company of Chicken Republic.
11 Plc gained N20.69 to end at N227.64 per share compared with last Friday’s price of N206.95 per share, CSCS Plc grew by N1.83 to N91.48 per unit from N89.65 per unit, and UBN Property Plc added 1 Kobo to sell at N1.81 per share versus N1.80 per share.
On the flip side, Food Concepts Plc depreciated by 24 Kobo to close at N2.45 per unit, in contrast to the preceding session’s N2.69 per unit.
As a result, the market capitalisation increased by N9.2 billion to N2.587 trillion from N2.578 trillion, and the NASD Security Index (NSI) improved by 15.33 points to 4,311.67 points from 4,296.34 points.
Yesterday, the volume of securities traded by investors surged by 615.9 per cent to 9.1 million units from the previous 1.3 million units, and the value of securities rose by 997.1 per cent to N320.4 million from the preceding session’s N29.2 million, while the number of deals decreased by 12.5 per cent to 28 deals from last Friday’s 32 deals.
At the close of trades, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units worth N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 73.9 million units exchanged for N5.2 billion.
GNI Plc also closed the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units sold for N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units traded for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.
