The Senate has tasked agencies of government to stretch their revenue target to generate more funds for the Federal Government to finance the N27.5 trillion 2024 budget of renewed hope.
President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio said this at a one-day retreat in Abuja.
Akpabio was represented by Deputy President of the Senate, Barau Jubril at the retreat organized by the Senate Committee on Appropriations, with over one hundred agencies of government in attendance, civil society as well as relevant stakeholders.
The theme for the retreat is “Budget and Budgetary Processes: Delivering improved outcome of 2024 Appropriation Bill.”
At the stakeholders’ retreat , Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun in his submission again raised concerns that with all the shocks the world has suffered ranging from Covid19, Russia- Ukraine crises, Nigeria ‘s fiscal space is exhausted.
He stressed that the country’s budget shows that there is room for privatization and maximizing the nation’s assets without borrowing.
Meanwhile, the upper chamber has threatened that Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government who fail to show up for budget defence risk zero budgetary allocation for the fiscal year.
Akpbio warned that the National Assembly will not tolerate lackadaisical attitude from government
functionaries in all Ministries, Departments and Agencies in relation to budget defence given the resolve to maintain January to December budget cycle.
He added that the move is to ensure an all-inclusive budget process for greater national good and achieve the nation’s commitment to January-December budget cycle.
Akpabio urged stakeholders to be honest and factual in their deliberations, saying that there is a need to understand that Nigeria has a common goal, which is to drastically improve socio-economic condition of the people in the shortest period with the budget of renewed hope.
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Ayo Teriba, a resource person and an economist from University of Ibadan, who delivered a short lecture on identification of processes to guide the desired achievement in 2024 budget says efforts should be tailored on leveraging on non tax revenue, asset revenue generation, with specific areas to attract foreign direct investments to increase revenue streams to the nation.
