A Senior Partner at OAL and former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Dr. Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), has called on the Federal Government to reduce its cost of governance and sell off non-performing assets which can raise N30 trillion revenue.
Dr. Agbakoba said this at the monthly forum of the Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN) where he deliberated on the 2021 budget and the economy.
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He said, “It is one of the principles of fiscal responsibility for the government to say, we are shrinking out of business. Look at the four refineries, they are just there doing nothing when they can be sold.
“Just as a result of the pressure the government is feeling it has suddenly put up Afam Power Station and Omotosho Power Station and they are going to bring about N500bn.
“So, you can just see if they think deeper, Ajaokuta for instance, government is still borrowing to put money into Ajaokuta, whereas all they need to do is to sell it, and the number of businesses that government has across Nigeria can fetch it about N20 to N30trn. Government is not in the business of doing business.”
He explained that with the present debt rate, it was pertinent to implement the Oronsaye report urgently, noting that, “The government needs to examine its revenue and if it is now spending N80 out of every N100 for loan, that means it only has N20 for the public service, health education and all of us.”
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