New Telegraph

LCCI To FG: Shore up revenue earnings to N30trn annually

Following the low revenue generation by government, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has suggested that it is time for Nigeria to leapfrog its current revenue thresholds to N30 trillion annually. To achieve this, the LCCI suggested immediate blockage of revenue leakages by curbing oil theft, pipeline vandalisation, and trimming excessive fuel, power, gas, and forex subsidies, as well as massive tax and duties to lift revenue. The Director-General of LCCI, Dr. Chinyere Almona, made this known in a chat with New Telegraph in Lagos. She said that government should not be optimistic about further borrowings to finance the 2023 budget but should start thinking of more efficient alternatives to new loans by shoring up the country’s revenue earnings.

Almona said: “We must immediately block revenue leakages by curbing oil theft, pipeline vandalisation, and trimming excessive fuel, power, gas, and forex subsidies, as well as massive tax and duty waivers to lift revenue to N20 to N30 trillion thresholds from the present N6 to N10 trillion thresholds.” On looking beyond oil revenue, the LCCI DG added: “We can enhance our forex earnings through increased inflow of foreign direct investments. “We need to invest more in infrastructure and critical port reforms to reduce the bottlenecks in our export logistics and processes that will boost non-oil production and exports.”

Almona explained that particular attention must be put on investing more on transport infrastructure in resolving the many logistical challenges that have impacted the movement of goods across the nation. “It is now obvious to us that we may not even be able to source debts from foreign investors as in the past. “Many factors have diminished our debt ratings, and this should push the government to consider immediate issuance of wholesale equity investment at home and abroad to fund idle assets to finance the deficits instead if borrowing more,” she added. Speaking further on the allocation of N470 billion to revitalise tertiary institutions and enhance salaries of university staff by government, the economic expert stated that it was commendable and at least a show of concern about the plight of the university community in recent times.

“However, we must accept that the current funding model for our universities is not sustainable in the face of the many revenue challenges being tackled by the government. A more sustainable way is to grant financial autonomy to the universities with a new emphasis on equity investments for infrastructure.

“In addressing the most significant components of human development, we urge the governments at all levels to remain consistent in funding education, health, infrastructure, and security. “One-off funding cannot address the decay in these areas within a year. It must be a practice and tradition of seeking robust equity funding for these areas consistently,” she noted.

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