ABUJA – The Minister of National Planning, Dr Abubakar Suleiman, on Monday called for the strengthening of Nigeria’s tax system and improved agriculture sector to make the country less dependent on oil.
Suleiman made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja in reaction to new fiscal measures announced by the Federal Government on Sunday following global drop in oil price.
He said that improvement in the nation’s non-oil revenue generation and exportation of some agriculture produce were required to complement whatever would be accruing to the nation from oil sales in the prevailing situation.
“I keep on saying this that `yes’, we depend so much on oil but oil is not the only means of our economy.
“There are other avenues and other sources of income that we are not looking into. It is high time we looked at them.
“They are not things that we will take time to really access. Take, for instance, revenue coming from Nigeria Customs Service.
“I keep on saying that if customs are given the target to fill that vacuum created by the fall in oil price, I want to believe that we can get what it takes from the customs,’’ the minister said.
He added that there were some agriculture produce that could be exported to generate revenue for the country.
“It is something that we can do, because we have them in abundance. It is only policy framework that is required; it requires some discipline on the side of enforcers of the law.
“It requires paying attention to other sectors to give us what we want,” he said.
“We urgently need to look at the issue of corruption because there are so many loopholes here and there through which our resources get out of the country. I think we need to beef up that aspect.
“By the time we do that within the next two, three months, I believe that the vacuum being created by the crisis in the global oil market will be filled,’’ Suleiman added.
He called on Nigerians not to panic over the drop in oil prices, saying that the budget was planned in a way that it could stand shocks from such developments in the market.
According to him, we may feel it for the next one or two months but again, I still believe that we have what it takes to make up for the drop.
“I keep on saying that one of the things we can do is to strengthen our tax regime. We are living in a deregulated economy where the government cannot do everything.
“If we have a policy whereby if you own ten vehicles and you pay certain tax on them, it will help the economy.
“I think we have to look at that aspect; let us look inward; let us impose some taxes or some levies on certain properties.
“I know if we do this and we are serious about it, we can garner more than what we expect from oil”, he said. (NAN)
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