I’ll focus on non-oil revenues – Finance Minister
- November 17, 2015
Mrs. Kemi Adeosun
Amid
growing concerns over the impact of the oil price slump on the nation’s
economy, the new Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, has revealed
that her top priority is raising non-oil revenues.
The former Ogun State Commissioner for Finance , who was sworn in last week by President Muhammadu Buhari, told the Financial Times of London that stricter enforcement of earnings collection from Federal agencies and more diligent bookkeeping were the types of “micro” issues her ministry would focus on to mitigate the effects of crude prices that remain below $50 a barrel.
“Forget about oil — we don’t control the price of oil. That’s not where our problems lie,” Mrs. Adeosun was quoted as saying.
She explained that, for years, the mindset of “we have oil” meant that the Federal Government had practically given up collecting the right amounts from revenue generating Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) which had habitually under-reported their revenues.
“Because of oil, we’ve ignored everything else,” Mrs. Adeosun said.
She added that she had already begun “drilling down into the details” with ministry staff to assess how much parastatals remit to the government.
She also praised the lack of pomp and circumstance at the ministerial swearing in ceremony, a sharp contrast to state ceremonies of past governments.
“The programme was a piece of paper, that’s it,” she said.
Mrs. Adeosun is, however, not the first Minister of Finance to point out that a near exclusive focus on oil, which accounts for almost fourfifths of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), has been disastrous for the Nigerian economy.
Her predecessor, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, made a similar case at times during her tenure.
“I don’t want to say we’ve been indisciplined,” Adeosun said.
“But I’d say, when you have the money, you can be extravagant, flying first class instead of business class, business instead of economy” — an acknowledgment that Nigeria’s finances are now much more precarious.
The former Ogun State Commissioner for Finance , who was sworn in last week by President Muhammadu Buhari, told the Financial Times of London that stricter enforcement of earnings collection from Federal agencies and more diligent bookkeeping were the types of “micro” issues her ministry would focus on to mitigate the effects of crude prices that remain below $50 a barrel.
“Forget about oil — we don’t control the price of oil. That’s not where our problems lie,” Mrs. Adeosun was quoted as saying.
She explained that, for years, the mindset of “we have oil” meant that the Federal Government had practically given up collecting the right amounts from revenue generating Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) which had habitually under-reported their revenues.
“Because of oil, we’ve ignored everything else,” Mrs. Adeosun said.
She added that she had already begun “drilling down into the details” with ministry staff to assess how much parastatals remit to the government.
She also praised the lack of pomp and circumstance at the ministerial swearing in ceremony, a sharp contrast to state ceremonies of past governments.
“The programme was a piece of paper, that’s it,” she said.
Mrs. Adeosun is, however, not the first Minister of Finance to point out that a near exclusive focus on oil, which accounts for almost fourfifths of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), has been disastrous for the Nigerian economy.
Her predecessor, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, made a similar case at times during her tenure.
“I don’t want to say we’ve been indisciplined,” Adeosun said.
“But I’d say, when you have the money, you can be extravagant, flying first class instead of business class, business instead of economy” — an acknowledgment that Nigeria’s finances are now much more precarious.
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