The Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms has expressed optimism that the initiative by President Bola Ahmed would address the broad fiscal challenges facing the nation’s economy without suffocating the Nigerian masses.
A member of the committee and the Ondo State Commissioner for Finance, Mr Wale Akinterinwa, stated this while fielding questions from journalists at a media forum organised by the State Council of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) tagged Ondo Media Agenda in Akure, the Ondo State capital, on Tuesday
Akinterinwa said the policy will put an end to overreliance on borrowing to fund government expenditure and assured that the Committee will come up with policies that favour the masses.
He said, “As a member of the Tinubu tax committee, I am sure by the time the committee is done with their plans, you will see that we have come up with policies that would favour the masses.
“We would ensure tax payment, the developed nations are developed because they pay their tax as and when due, we have followed suit in Ondo State in the enforcement of tax payment, we don’t have to suffocate the poor with it, as Tinubu had said, ‘let the poor breath.”
Speaking on the free fall of the naira, Akinterinwa said, “The issue of the free fall of the naira is that we have to find solutions to our monetary policies; there should be infrastructural development; we must also try to move away from being an import-dependent country and patronise our Local manufactures.
“The Naira is depreciating because our people purchase foreign goods rather than our local ones and also because of the sudden demand for foreign currency by Nigerians seeking to settle import bills, school fees and other demands by households and corporate entities.”
The Finance Commissioner acknowledged the receipt of 3000 bags of rice out of the 81,000 bags promised by the Federal Government, saying the gesture was part of plans to mitigate the effects of the fuel subsidy removal on residents of the state.
“The state had gotten 3,000 bags of rice, contrary to the 81, 000 bags of rice that were promised by the federal government, but rice is not the only food we consume; we would provide other foods, and the state would also get an additional 3,000 bags of rice added to the ones given by the federal government.
While speaking on the palliative put in place by the state government, Akinterinwa said every pensioner in the state would be entitled to N10,000 from August to December 2023.
“From this month, apart from transportation, the pensioners would get their N10,000, and the vulnerable would also get the same amount. Some of these promises would definitely take time, and we have to ensure transparency and accountability too.
“Free transportation for schoolchildren would commence next month; transportation for civil servants would also commence for ease of movement; and we intend to buy more vehicles.
“We would have purchased more vehicles, but we don’t want the ones using petrol; we want to buy CNG buses because they are bigger, but all the states are going for this purpose because of the fuel cost, and we are also in the queue for it.
“The government would help the farmers get their food crops to town because we realised that transportation has been the major difficulty. The farmers do complain about access, so we would provide tricycles for easy access. When these crops get to town, they would be sold at a subsidised price.
He also explained some of the steps taken by the present administration to increase the IGR of the state, disclosing that the state IGR was raised from N500m to N3b a month
“This increase in IGR has helped the administration in so many ways to assist the government in achieving some of the things that were credited to this government, especially in terms of the welfare of the people and infrastructure development.
“When we also came in, one of the biggest challenges ever was that the civil servants were owed seven months’ salary, and then the economy was downstream because of non-regular payment of salary when we came in at that time.
“We met no IGR, and contractors were being owed, but today, with the leadership of a man with a clear vision, we moved from that situation, today, we had cleared the salary debt except for a month, by the time this government ends her tenure, they would have paid salary for eight years and seven months.
He said, “When we came in, we did restructuring in all areas; we brought stakeholders and investors together; we took bonds that were not maintained well by the previous administration and serviced them; by the time we approached the capital market, there was no other state that could be able to approach it except Lagos State because the requirements were strict, but we were able to achieve them.
“All the infrastructure you see today is because the Governor of the state gave us good Leadership, and an enabling environment was created for us in order for us to put up our best.
“In this administration, we are also able to recover a lot of funds through reconciliation and consultations, especially on the N4.3 billion recovery that became the talk of the town. Part of this money was used for most of the projects we can now witness today.
“We did so much financial reengineering on debts that were inherited from loans; they were restructured. The role of the Government is not just to pay salaries; we have not abandoned any projects.
“We are able to achieve great improvement in our IGR because we brought in an independent person who was given autonomy and an enabling environment. That is why we have ODIRS, we recruited Experts and also gave more training to staff, we blocked leakages, and lots of things are now done properly.
“We designed tax payment, you can now pay your tax at the comfort of your zone, all those placements helped out in increasing our IGR, we deploy technology, we have data for all houses, all we did was just enforcing the law, we have the data to send notice of tax payment to people and we enforce it, everybody was involved and implementation was done, we also tried to be transparent enough about the funds and usage.”
YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
VIDEO: Alema of Warri buys customised 2023 Maybach for wife, Natasha
Chief Emmanuel Uduaghan, the Alema of Warri Kingdom, in Delta, has bought a new vehicle worth millions of…
Call on God to kill me if … — Pastor Adeboye
Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye, the general overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, has said to call on God to kill him if…
Military rejects requests to topple Tinubu’s Government — DHQ
The Armed Forces of Nigeria, AFN, has rejected requests by Coup instigators to topple the democratically elected Government of…
Petrol pump price may jump to N750/litre — IPMAN
The association’s national spokesperson, Mr. Chinedu Ukadike gave the hint while speaking to…
#BBNaijaAllstars: Food crisis looms as housemates lose weekly wager
Big Brother Naija All stars Housemates have lost the first Wager task, which means for the next week, there will be…
Heavyweight bout: Anthony Joshua knocks out Robert Helenius in seventh round
Robert Helenius was defeated by Anthony Joshua at the O2 Arena in London on Saturday after..
and then