Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osibanjo has advocated that for the nation to move forward, the Federal and State Government must reduce dependence on sharing revenue made from oil sale.

Osibanjo spoke at the Economic Forum organized by the Nation Newspapers in Lagos, Southwest Nigeria on Thursday.

“We must look beyond oil because it disturbs us from looking to other sector. In order to move the country forward, we must reduce the Federal Government and state dependence on sharing revenue made from oil sales.

“The foundation for a strong economy demands that we have appropriate fiscal policies that will help the country that is arising from a very low rate of VAT and a low taxpayer’s base. We are focusing on increasing the country’s taxpayers base. We are committed to expanding the tax net,” he stated.

The Vice President also lamented that the price of oil had collapsed from $114 per barrel to under $40, saying that the issue therefore was that “we must move beyond oil which accounts for larger percentage of the country revenue. It is pathetic that a nation with over 170 million people benchmarked its budget on the price of oil.”

He said the present administration is determined to address the economic problems by prioritising key sectors.

“The way forward requires that we move from land and crude oil to production of petroleum products. That is rather than extract and exporting, the country must take full advantage of the oil sector and entire value chain. This will also assist us in making full use of our natural gas resources domestically and abroad. And it will aid us to fully implement long term laws in the oil sector.


“It is for this reason that the Federal Government will be prioritizing the adopting and execution of the National oil and gas master plan this year. We will also move beyond neglect of other sectors. While we believed that the oil sector was the only source of revenue, other sectors suffered and these sectors have the potential to drive the economy, provide jobs and others.

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, in his speech said that for Nigeria’s economy to improve, its leaders must have the courage to take difficult and tough decisions, saying that the nation’s economy was at a critical threshold and thus, would require its leaders to think outside the box and come up with creative innovations that will trigger economic growth nationwide.

He lamented the fact that previous governments at the federal level failed to take advantage of the oil boom to grow other sectors of the economy, saying that the fall in price in the international oil market coupled with many years of corruption has made the economy vulnerable.

“It is very unfortunate that we wasted the golden opportunity to deploy the trillions of dollars earned from our oil exports to develop the critical sectors of the economy including power, agriculture, industries, solid minerals, transportation infrastructure among others. No doubt, if we had done the right thing as some other oil producing countries did, keeping in mind that crude oil is a finite resource, we would not be experiencing the devastating effect of oil price crash on the scale we are experiencing it now.

“We are now being forced to do, with pains, what we should have done with ease years ago. The task of charting a new direction for the economy is not going to be a tea party. Various policy options must be identified and assessed on the basis of our current situation and needs. Moving our economy forward requires thinking outside the box and doing things differently. We need creativity, innovation and the courage to take difficult and tough decisions.

“The leadership of the country at national and state levels must have the courage to take tough decisions and make sacrifices in the near term which will, in the long run, make our economy stronger and sustainable and, consequently result in prosperity across all regions of Nigeria,” he said.

Recommending strategies to improve the economy, Governor Ambode said that the nation must begin to explore and expand the opportunities that abound in inter-State relations and strengthen regional competitiveness by maximizing economies of scale, regional optimization of assets and endowments and mitigation of afflictions and natural disasters.

He listed other viable areas for inter-State collaboration to include transport infrastructure to facilitate market linkages, education, market development, human capacity building, security and intelligence sharing, saying that it was high time to move away from an oil driven economy.

“Prior to the oil boom era, Agriculture was the mainstay of Nigeria’s economy and contributed about 65 per cent to the country’s GDP and represented close to 70 per cent of total exports. Through farming, Nigeria was able to feed its population while major cash crops were exported to earn foreign exchange.

“From the cocoa and rubber plantations in the West, the groundnut pyramids and cotton in the north, to palm oil in the east; each region was identified by its economic areas of comparative advantage which were collectively harnessed towards ensuring food security and inclusive growth across the country.

“Given our current economic challenge, I believe it is time we take a cue from our old ‘playbook’ for a viable ‘game plan’ to revive our national economy. States and regions must once again begin to leverage on their respective areas of comparative advantage by establishing partnerships towards establishing inter-State or inter-regional commodity value chain. We must re-start inter-state/regional cooperation,” he said.

http://www.metronaija.com/2016/04/nigeria-must-not-rely-on-oil-osinbajo.html

Certainly not.

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Na today... Keep preaching rather than get to work. Even a year old knows Nigeria needs an industrial revolution and also a diversification from crude oil.

Osinbajo get to work, stop telling stories or go back to church

Another show to blame Gej for their incompetence

which one did he provide for us to rely on.

Shoroniyen?

dis man funny o as if they've given us any orda option. the last time i checked buhari is planning to drill oil in the north.

Not anymore but you are not giving us other choice at least gej urge us to venture into agriculture and learn skills but he didn't support with money.
Mr pastor what are you gonna do in you own side.
Carry politicians. Birds of a feather

Abeg make una quick sign the budget

Mr VP is high... Walai

Grammar

Everyone wants to be relevant talking... action pls!!

ceometromedia:

He said the present administration is determined to address the economic problems by prioritising key sectors.

We are waiting with optimism to see how the effects will affect the life of a common man positively.

Look at his mouth like chimpazee! And the way he spoke like that of monkey!

and if we decide to focus on agriculture fulani and their cows will not allow us to rest.


Osinbanjo what are u people doing about this fulani people? We want u to ban them for life. Let them graze their cattle in the north. There are enough lands there.

Mouth action vice president.. Somebody feed this deceitful con man a dick!

this arshole sabi talk talk talk.... action is better

Osibangoat is at it again. He should know that campaign is over. Talking bullshit

Abi emaa gbo oro rada rada... Oti pe ti mo ti mo pe awon alaroye ladibo fun.... Please get to work already and stop this epistle without action

very good...A man of vision

Aint u guys the one in power? They der dey talk lyk opposition,One year don pass

Oil should dry abeg. And the hardship continues. Irresponsible vp.

Its not by talking, it's long we have been hearing of diversification. What has Fayemi the Solid minister done or come up with? Audu Ogbe the Agric minister is interested in grass importation, is that the way out?

What policies relevant have you guys put in place to ensure freedom from oil mono economy?

Mr Man, you too dey talk. Even my baby sister knows the importance of diversification.

Talk is cheap nowadays.

Am yet to feel the impact of the Agric Minister as we can't just be talking!

Mr vice president sir,every reasoable nigerian knows these but u hv not stated how we are to achieve these.
A leader with no economic blue print is unorganised,planless and a talkative
That u just spent a huge amount of money in search of crude oil in d north east
So what are they talking about @ this Forum absolutely nothing

justicejay:
Not anymore but you are not giving us other choice at least gej urge us to venture into agriculture and learn skills but he didn't support with money.
Mr pastor what are you gonna do in you own side.
Carry politicians. Birds of a feather

GEJ didn't support with money? Seems like you didn't hear of the effective distribution of fertilizers that helped farmers greatly? You didn't also hear of YouWiN which I've come across some people that won millions of naira and are running their agro biz successfully? Information is power!

Who is osinbajo??
Hin get fuel for sell?
I wan buy 600 litres so my school won't shut down. (Unilag is closed!)

Osunbade is still talking the same way he was before election. You think governance is beans when you were criticizing the previous government in those mumu town hall meetings before election.


Just get to work oga