The 2023 Budget signed by President Muhammadu Buhari has shown that the Federal Government needs to work hard to improve revenue to tackle rising debt and ensure that the deficit is reduced.
Director General of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce Industry Mines and Agriculture, Dr Chinyere Omona, made this disclosure while speaking on the 2023 Economic outlook for Nigeria.
She said the debt as it is is unsustainable and Government must be creative in raising revenue to ensure that the deficit embeded in the 2023 budget is reduced.
She said the issue of budget deficit will be taken care of by government exploring all avenues to raise revenue and also reduce costs especially the Fuel subsidy.
She disclosed that lowered revenue and increase costs are the primary reasons why the public debt is rising especially Fuel Subsidy.
She urged the Federal Government to encourage diversification which has been talked about for so long.
She also said she is worried at how well the nation can scale up to the 1.69 Million Barrels of Crude Oil per day when Oil production never reached a Million Barrels of Crude Oil per day in 2022.
According to her from available statistics, the Oil Sector which has been a major contributor to the nations’ coffers has underperformed for long.
She added that the LCCI has advised Government to make better use of assets that have been lying waste, securitise them and put them up for equity investment.
She said these are some of the ways the revenue position of the country can improve and with this and Others, the nation can get to a point where we can comfortably afford to pay back our debts.
She urged the Federal Government to do more to restructure the Nations’ Finances by taking more of Equity financing as against Debts and if the way to go is debt, to find cheaper debts.
She urged the Federal government not to borrow more to finance public spending.
Going further, She said the effect of Oil Theft on the Nigerian Economy is a massive drawback and that the nation should do much better than is currently being done to address.
She however said the issue can be dealt with but the Political will has to be there to address it.
She disclosed that the Manufacturing sector contracted and is bedevilled with a lot of challenges which needs to be addressed before it can contribute well to the nations’ GDP.
He added that the Manufacturing Sector needs better access to Forex to be able to contribute in terms of employment and GDP of Nigeria.
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