The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun, has reiterated the need for the country to diversify its economic base and tap into the enormous potential of the non-oil sectors.
He said this has become necessary in view of the recent global shifts in energy policies and declining oil demand.
Mr Edun stated this in his welcome address on Monday at the 5th National Treasury Workshop with the theme, “Nigeria’s Revenue Challenges and the Way Forward: Exploring Non-Oil Alternatives,” hosted by the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) in Abuja.
Edun said, “The recent global shifts in energy policies, declining oil demand, and fluctuating crude prices have jointly made it abundantly clear that we cannot afford to be overly dependent on oil revenues. We must, therefore, embrace a diversified economic approach that taps into the immense potential of non-oil sectors such as agriculture, solid minerals, manufacturing, tourism, digital economy, and creative industries.”
The minister, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance, Lydia Shehu Jafiya, noted that Nigeria is blessed with abundant natural and human resources that remain largely untapped.
“The question before us today is: how can we harness these resources effectively to drive sustainable economic growth and development?
“This workshop seeks to provide actionable answers to this question by fostering robust discussions among key stakeholders in the financial and economic landscape,” Edun said.
According to him, the significance of the workshop and the theme are both timely and imperative as they underscore the urgent need to rethink “our revenue generation strategies, especially in light of the volatile nature of oil revenues which have long been the backbone of our economy but recently are facing a downturn.”
He highlighted that several non-oil sectors have demonstrated strong potential for revenue generation, job creation, and economic transformation.
He added, “It is time to explore these aggressively. Let me highlight a few critical areas such as Agriculture and Agro-Processing, Solid Minerals and Mining, Manufacturing and Industrialisation, Tourism and Hospitality, The Digital Economy and ICT, Tax Reforms and Compliance, etc.”
He noted that while the potential of non-oil revenue sources is evident, several challenges impede their full exploitation.
Edun identified some of these challenges to include poor infrastructure and high cost of doing business, bureaucratic bottlenecks and regulatory inefficiencies, insecurity and its impact on investment confidence, low tax compliance, and widespread revenue leakages. He added that the government is already taking bold steps to tackle these issues through reforms in public financial management, digitalisation of revenue collection, and strengthening of tax administration.
He acknowledged that more needs to be done, and the insights gathered from the workshop will be instrumental in shaping further policy directions.
He urged participants to actively engage in discussions and contribute innovative solutions that will enhance revenue generation and prudent allocation of scarce resources to the various sectors.
The Accountant-General of the Federation, Dr (Mrs) Oluwatoyin Maiden, said the National Treasury Workshop is a yearly occasion where seasoned technocrats are invited to rub minds on salient issues confronting the nation’s economy with a view to proffering workable solutions in order to move the country forward.
She noted that the theme for this year’s edition, “Nigeria’s Revenue Challenges and the Way Forward: Exploring Non-Oil Alternatives” is considered very apt considering the state of the economy owing to a multiplicity of factors ranging from exchange rate volatility, low revenue performance, rising costs, amongst others.
These, she noted, have complicated fiscal operations in the last few years, hence the gathering to brainstorm and come up with a robust and implementable communiqué capable of changing the current revenue challenges faced by the country.
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