Omodele Adigun
The Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN) has charged the Federal Government to pass all petroleum-related bills in order to release about N5trillion investments into the economy just as the body advised its 560 new inductees to eschew professional misconducts.
According to its President, Mr Cyril Ede, who made the appeal Thursday in Lagos during the 40th CITN Induction, “the economy requires an average of five million new jobs annually to reverse the unemployment rate in the country, which requires that the economy grow at an inclusive growth rate of between 5 per cent to 6 per cent per annum .
He then advised that deliberate policies should be activated to drive economic growth.
On the 2019 Appropriation Bill, he said a major part of the budgetary challenge of the government is the failure of policies that translate revenue into growth-inducing investment, adding that the challenge with the fiscal authorities, before now, was trying too hard to create a pseudo-welfare state that lacks proper structure or direction, backed with a weak funding structure that could make it sustainable.
He stated: “The budget should inspire hope, resting on a philosophy of progress and not only on the churning out of figures.The budget can do better in assuring Nigerians of the reversal in the observed gale of unemployment.
“As a matter of urgency, government should push for the passage of the Petroleum Governance Bill into law as with other petroleum industry-related legislations. As it stands, this could potentially release N5trillion of badly needed investments into the economy.
“There is potential for government to increase productivity by investing in education with emphasis on quality over quantity. It is a bold thinking that should be driving the 2019 budget. Moreso, the budget ought to detail a plan of action beyond the statement of incomes and expenditures. Funding identified infrastructural gap would require government to encourage Public-Private partnerships and concession arrangements for the proper operation and maintenance of public infrastructure.
“*The fiscal component of the budget should be prepared along with the expenditure so that at a glance, one would be able to compare both the projected income with expenditure and the strategy to employed to pursue this.