The Federal Government has resolved to release N350bn into the economy, which has been battered by the sharp drop in the price of crude oil in the global market, as parts of measures aimed at stabilising it.

This is one of the outcomes of a two-day retreat organised by the National Economic Council chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The governors of Zamfara and Anambra states, Abdulaziz Yari and Willie Obiano; Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udo Udoma; and his Finance counterpart, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, read the retreat’s communique to State House correspondents at the end of the programme.

Adeosun expressed the conviction that the money, which would be released by her ministry in the coming months, would restore significant economic activities in the country.

She said for contractors to benefit from the fund, they must show proof of the number of Nigerians that would be re-engaged.

Adeosun said, “From the Ministry of Finance, in anticipation of the approval of the budget, we have virtually lined up about N350bn, which we will be pumping into the Nigerian economy in the forthcoming months.

“We explained our rationale and the processes that we have put in place to ensure that this money actually achieves the desired objective, which is to stimulate the economy. We are already discussing with some of the contractors who will be paid this money, and the objectives from the overall criteria is the number of Nigerians that will be re-engaged.

“We are specifically looking at contractors who have laid off staff and how many Nigerians they are going to put back to work as a result of this money that we are planning to release, and we believe that this will bring significant economic activity.”

The minister said participants at the retreat called on state governors to reduce the number of their political appointees, including commissioners, as much as possible.

“State governors were encouraged, where possible, to rationalise the number of commissioners and general political appointees, and in addition, cost-control measures should be identified and implemented on an ongoing basis, and there was a sharing of best practices from a number of states that could be applied elsewhere,” Adeosun added.

The minister also said the retreat called on state governments to bring in more cost-efficiency into their operations, noting that they were asked to establish efficiency units to achieve the feat.
She added, “We deliberated extensively on the drop in revenue, particularly as to how it affects the state governments and their ability to pay salaries and fulfil other obligations.

“The general resolve of the house and the consensus was that there was a need to bring in more cost-efficiency in their operations, in particular to look at the setting up of efficiency units within the state governments to rationalise expenditure, and of course, to increase IGR.

“To that end, there is a need to generate data because data is the basis of any revenue collection effort. The federal and state inland revenue services will collaborate to do joint audits to invest in revenue, relevant technology and efforts to improve collection.

“There is a need to develop incentives for both federal and state revenue generating agencies to ensure that there is an alignment of interest.

“There is a focus at state level on property and consumption taxes to help in improving revenue in a fair manner. Taxpayer education must be intensified and to expand the tax base and ensure that there is a buy-in in the revenue collection agencies from the populace.”

Adeosun added that the retreat also discussed the Universal Basic Education Commission and the need to get legislative approval to change the need for counterpart funding on the part of state governments, which is believed to be putting them further into debt.

This, she explained, would release an estimated N58bn currently not being accessed.

datola:
The delay in passing the budget is not good for the economy at all. We appreciate the legislative oversight functions of detecting a lot errors in the budget and correcting same. Such errors were overlooked in the past. A change government/legislature should never allow that.

Part of measures to rate the government- both executive and legislature should be early preparation and passage of the national budget.

The N350 billion should be 'released' equitably

ShowYourCertificate:
This is a poor decision. Adeosun is certainly not capable of improving our economy. She'll end up destroying it. [s]How can you just dole out cash to contractors simply because they sacked their workers?[/s] So you think that cash will make the contractors bring back those that were sacked on a permanent basis? Don't you think the company will still sack those workers when the money given to them expires?

The wise question should have been, "why did those contractors lay off those workers in the first place?" Poor infrastructures such as erratic power supply? Bad roads? Inefficient water supply? Bad government policies such as multiple taxation? Inadequate security? And so on. These are the aspects the government should address with the so called N350bn (that money is too small sef to stimulate an economy such as ours).

The government needs to fix our basic infrastructures, security and implement policies that are favorable to our indigenous firms. In so doing, they'll create millions of jobs for our youths. This is the Lagrange Multiplier effect. Does Adeosun know this? I doubt. [s]Is Buhari knowledgeable on Economics to decipher when Adeosun is derailing?[/s] I laugh.

989900:


The gov't is simply part-paying what it owes them contractors in that specific case -- read again -- it matters a lot to those out of jobs, even if it means nothing to you.

I agree with the parts in bold though.

disloman:
I see some people comments.They don't understand an atom of what they just read.350B will goes a long way in stabilising the economy.We gat to do things different this time around.PMB!I'm waiting for you to revoke the privatisation of the power sector. God bless PMB.

centlevi:
Well thats a good move if the fund will be used judiciously..



My people oya make una show me some love today is my birthday....muuuuuah!

freeze001:
Will this piecemeal release of what appearsappears to be 'bailout' funds be feasible in the long run? Are they going to continue like this? What is in place or has been resolved to get the economy function optimally without the need for these government interventions?

What is needed is structural rather than cosmetic reform. Asking for guarantee from contractors as regards how many people they will be re-engaged before the release of the funds is laughable.

Should we say the government is now resorting to bribing contractors to engage people? That should be something that flows naturally when necessary infrastructure are in place with a conducive environment for business. If the FG owes contractors then pay them and don't make it contingent on how many people they will re-engage. The emphasis should be on timely delivery of high quality contract projects which will serve members of the public.