The Senate has said that the dwindling economic activities in the country was a result of the security challenges in the NorthEast region where the Boko Haram sect had undermined government tax opportunities including income, profit and consumption taxes.
The upper legislative chamber also decried the abuses of duty waivers and incentives by previous governments, saying these incentives are key intermediate inputs geared towards boosting domestic production activities and contributed to the generation of lower non-oil revenue to September of N2,455.33 billion in 2015.
These were spelled out in a report of the Senate Joint committees on finance, appropriations and national planning and economic affairs on the 2016 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP).
It clearly stated that the activities of Boko Haram in the NorthEast were such that they greatly hampered the economy of the region and largely affected the country, such that it further affected the revenue forecasts of the country in the 2015 fiscal year.
Urging President Muhammadu Buhari to persist in his commitment to end the insurgency, the Senate recalled that huge sums of money were appropriated for the fight against insurgency in the NorthEast, in spite of the state of Emergencies declared in the region by former president Goodluck Jonathan, which achieved no purpose as the activities of the terrorists defied all the measures.
On the abuses in the non-oil revenue in the 2015 fiscal year, the Senate said, “N2,455.33 billion as against N4,063.40 billion for the year and N3,047.55 billion prorated to September 2015, representing 60.42 per cent for the full year and 80.56 per cent prorated to September 2015.
“Also, the decreases in the volume of imports, due to the naira depreciation against the dollar and the restriction on foreign exchange allocation for the import of some items contributed to the non-oil receipts, particularly with respect to Nigeria Customs Service collections of N449.26 billion, year to September as against N650.1 billion and N866.80 billion for the full year”.
The Senate also assured that the National Assembly would ensure that the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) delivers on its promises to raise the tax collection closer to the tax/GDP ratio expected of the economy in the 2016 fiscal year.
…Begins process of adjusting 2016 budget Monday
Meanwhile, the Senate will today begin the second reading of the 2016 budget at the committees level where ministries, departments and agencies of government would appear to defend their budget estimates which would lead to possible adjustments in sectoral heads of the original figures.
President Muhammadu Buhari had presented a budget of N6.08 trillion to the National Assembly on December 22 last year and the two chambers of the National Assembly concluded debate on the general principles of the Money bill at their plenaries last week.
This exercise scheduled to last up to next week Friday, would be conducted by the various committees of the Senate, which would in turn present their reports to the Senate committee on Appropriations.
The budget hearing is part of the oversight functions of the parliament, to ascertain whether or not, certain ministries or agencies of government have the capacity to handle budgetary allocations proposed for them in the budget. It also creates a platform for agencies of goverment to ask for increments in their budgetary allocations, which is within the purview of the legislature.
The upper legislative chamber had said all committees with oversight functions on ministries and agencies would commence meetings of the various bodies today and would round up on 11th February, 2016, while submission and defence of reports of sub-committees on Appropriations would be between 12th and 18th February 2016.
It also said it would commence collation and harmonisation of the reports as well as drawing of the bill between 18th and 22nd February 2016, while the appropriations bill would be tabled on 24th February, 2016 for passage.
This was disclosed by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Appropriations, Senator Danjuma Goje on conclusion of the second reading of the 2016 money bill.
According to Senator Goje, “The budget has been referred to our committee, we are going to send circulars to all sub-committees to commence budget hearings from tomorrow, this is in line with the change mantra.
“We are also going to suspend plenary for two weeks from next week so as to allow the sub-committees work.”
-Leadership