From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre’s (CISLAC), has said that the 2023 Appropriation Bill presented to the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari on October 7, 2022, will intensify austerity and increase poverty, if passed as given, describing it as not only alarming but also terrifying given the current status of the economy.
Executive Director, CISLAC and Head of Transparency International – Nigeria, Auwal Ibrahim Musa Rafsanjani, in a position presented during the media interaction at the IMF/World Bank Annual meeting in Washington DC, meant to x-ray the many contributors to the non-existent solution to the issue, noted that the budget projection totals N20.5 trillion, with estimated revenues of N9.7 trillion and (extra) borrowing expected to reach a total N8.8 trillion. He warned that if passed by the National Assembly, Nigeria’s total debt will hit N50.8 trillion.
According to him, Nigeria’s debt is more of an accountability crisis than economically induced issues, as the country’s Public Finance integrity is probably at its lowest state.
Rafsanjani noted that the debt challenge has defiled all economic prudence frameworks that exist in the laws of the land.
The CISLAC’s boss noted that on tax administration, the leakages that exist within the financial architecture of Nigeria as a country creates a default opportunity for ineffective taxation and consequently failing to optimise revenue required for national development.
On Extractive Sector Governance, he observed that what he calls organised corruption in the oil and gas sector is a major issue that is expressed in several ways including oil theft and all other forms of sabotage within the trade value chain – fuel subsidy and other unproductive incentives.
“This trend has consistently left us in a situation where this revered sector is rather sapping revenue from the government instead of contributing substantially to fund developmental projects in Nigeria”, he said.
Rafsanjani added, “Absence of an economic team – Like the saying goes “If you fail to plan then you are planning to fail”. He urged every government to constitute an economic team of technocrats saddled with the responsibility of advising the President on economic issues at any given time in the life of every regime.