₦airaland Forum

ultron12345:
Apart from all these waste that need to go, we also need to increase our revenue. Our revenue is generally too small. We need to work on that, especially tax revenue. The majority of Nigerians pay little to no taxes. I don't agree with this narrative that once we do away with NASS 0.12T (out of personnel budget of 2.4T), the country will suddenly turn to London. A family of 10 people, earning a combined N5k per month, no matter how non-corrupt they are, they will still suffer from poverty. Yes, waste and corruption have to go, but revenue has to also go up.

We have one of the lowest tax-to-gdp ratios in the world att 4-5%. France is at 48%, Germany is 44.5%. Those countries are much richer so let's leave them and compare with our neighbors with similar or even worse socioeconomic demographics. Benin is at 15.4%, Cameroon is at 18.2%, Ghana is at 20%, Togo is 15.5%.

Our budget of about $26bn is too small for a $380bn economy with 180M people. And the most surprising part is we still have to take loans to fund this tiny budget.

South Africa has a budget of $120bn for a smaller economy with 50M. But they are of different socioeconomics with Nigeria, so let's use a similar country as example.

Ghana with similar socioeconomics with Nigeria has a budget of $14bn annually, for a population of 29M and a $60bn GDP. Meaning their spending $483 per person and spend 23% of their GDP.

Nigeria on the other hand, is spending just about $144 per person and just 3.68% of our GDP.

How can you expect similar level of development when Nigeria is spending far less due to far less revenue. For Nigeria to operate at the level of Ghana, we need to generate 20% of our GDP in taxes, that is $76bn in taxes. Then spend have a budget that's 23% of our GDP (the extra 3% can come from loans or other sources of income, not now where loans are used to finance almost 50% of the budget) at $87.5bn. At this level, per capita spending will be equivalent at $486.

I see it as a miracle that open our abysmal spending that is just about a third of Ghana's, in terms of development, the difference is not that much. And upon this low revenue, unlike Ghana, we are the ones who will still subsidize everything, from fuel to ceaserian section to electricity bills.

About the loans and debt, Nigeria has one of the lowest debt-to-gdp ratios in the world at just about 23%. Most of the developed countries have it at 80-130%. Japan is even at 223% (yes, more than twice of their GDP in debt). Ghana is at 73%, Benin at 54%, Chad at 52%, Gabon at 61%. Yet, these countries like Ghana with relatively high debt don't use up to half of their budgets to service those debts, because those budgets are large compared to the debts. We in Nigeria with a supposedly low debt profile are the ones using almost half of our budget to service debt because the budget is too small compared to our GDP. Imagine we had 73% debt like Ghana. It's means we'll use 100% of our budget to service debt and still borrow even more to complete the debt servicing. Our debt is not the problem. The problem is that we are making too little revenue to service a debt that we should have serviced very easily if we made enough.

Another advantage of taxes, is that is promotes accountability. If Nigerians we're paying taxes, I doubt we'd allow all this corruption go on. As at now, all the money being stolen is like free money from the ground, and no-one cares. That's why nigerians will destroy public property and politicians steal with impunity. If these were built with taxation which is the collective sweat, blood and tears of the population, I doubt you'd allow anyone damage streetlights that we're built with your money. Any politician that does anyhow will be voted out. No more selling and buying votes, because if income taxes are 20%, and I'm earning 30K, meaning I'm paying taxes of 6K monthly, 72k annually, and 288k for a 4yr tenure, do you think I would collect 2K bribe during election to vote for someone I know would squander my 288k for the next 4yrs.

Imagine, all Nigerians pay 6-7% of their income as a firm of health insurance premium, for free healthcare, similar to the UK's NHS. If we have 80M economically active Nigerians, who earn ON AVERAGE 45K monthly. That would be an annual healthcare fund of at least, 3T annually (current healthcare budget is just about 300B of which 90% is spent on salaries). Imagine how that would boost the life expectancy of Nigerians and even the economy. With that, we'll be able to build all the hospitals we need, buy all the fancy high-end equipment we want, and employ adequate numbers of all the doctors and healthcare staff we need. If we don't have enough, we can even start poaching staff from poorer African countries like Burundi, Ethiopia, even Ghana. If 30% (900B) of that money went to drugs, it would boost our pharmaceutical industry, create more jobs, bring in more investment since pharmaceuticals are sure of a large market etc. With the tiny revenues of listed pharma companies on NSE, I doubt if the entire drug market in Nigeria is even up to a third of that. If 10% of that went on healthcare research, who will challenge us in Africa. It'll create jobs for the many biomedical graduates in well funded research institutes. This is just an example. Similar miracles will happen if this principle is applied in other sectors.

ahiboilandgas:
Example jigawa state earned earned over 1.2 trillion naira in 20 years with all human development index still in the red , instead the single must important project executed by the Govt is the 30 bn Naira duste airport that was never used and still not in use cos their is no commercial activities in the state...the gov a pantom progressive and man of the masses ..against building dams for irrigation and all year farming and value chain additions ....the former gov a syco started frog farming for export to thailand .....meanwhile their counter part in ekiti is also building a fly over and airports to attract imaginary investors to the state while the single must important project executed by the Phd gov of ekiti was building a New govt house and gov lodge abuja

Thisnut:
boss, no need for all this. You said you traveled OVER 2000km, meaning one way was over 2000km. If one way was 1000km, that means you were still within 1000km limit or 2000km ROUND trip.

You were describing the strength of a road and the cause of accident by trucks of a one way.

You are right sir.

ahiboilandgas:
i coverd over 2000km i dont know how to explain futher , when we startd we set the mileage....we travel to several states and a deep remote village and back to base we coverd over 2000km .....i no sabi English....so i need to say i travel to and fro ? a pilots having 5000 km flying hours has to put it as 2500 or 5000 (lagos-abuja -abuja -lagos )....educated me more na Ukraine i do university .....so i will learn

ultron12345:
Like I said, I agree with you that corruption is a problem that needs to go, but if revenues don't go up, all our lacjbof infrastructure and social amenities will continue. A non-corrupt family of 10 earning 5k monthly will still be poor.

Jigawa state receiving 1.2T over 20 years is a paltry 60B per year.

According to the Vanguard, Jigawa has about 784,000 children out of school.

https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/10/edo-records-lowest-out-of-school-children-in-nigeria/

If the government is to provide free, quality basic education not for all the children in the state, but just for these 784K children. At a teacher to student ratio of 1:15, that would be 52,000 teachers. At a salary of 80K monthly, that is 50B annually. We haven't added the other thousands children who are in schools that are only fit to be pig farms. We haven't added the cost of building and equipping those schools. The government will still spend on healthcare, infrastructure, roads, etc.

Even if corruption is totally absent, 60B cannot provide anything tangible for a whole state. Unless you want to fund only schools when there are no roads to go to those schools because you're not spending anything on roads and the children and people are dieing daily because you're not spending anything on healthcare and there are no jobs because you're not spending anything on infrastructure to support businesses.

Thisnut:
sir, you are very correct.
You might as well be walking round your house and tell people how you've went on a 2000km travel/journey vs 2000km steps.

Christopher columbus i greet you sir.

ultron12345:
Apart from all these waste that need to go, we also need to increase our revenue. Our revenue is generally too small. We need to work on that, especially tax revenue. The majority of Nigerians pay little to no taxes. I don't agree with this narrative that once we do away with NASS 0.12T (out of personnel budget of 2.4T), the country will suddenly turn to London. A family of 10 people, earning a combined N5k per month, no matter how non-corrupt they are, they will still suffer from poverty. Yes, waste and corruption have to go, but revenue has to also go up.

We have one of the lowest tax-to-gdp ratios in the world att 4-5%. France is at 48%, Germany is 44.5%. Those countries are much richer so let's leave them and compare with our neighbors with similar or even worse socioeconomic demographics. Benin is at 15.4%, Cameroon is at 18.2%, Ghana is at 20%, Togo is 15.5%.

Our budget of about $26bn is too small for a $380bn economy with 180M people. And the most surprising part is we still have to take loans to fund this tiny budget.

South Africa has a budget of $120bn for a smaller economy with 50M. But they are of different socioeconomics with Nigeria, so let's use a similar country as example.

Ghana with similar socioeconomics with Nigeria has a budget of $14bn annually, for a population of 29M and a $60bn GDP. Meaning their spending $483 per person and spend 23% of their GDP.

Nigeria on the other hand, is spending just about $144 per person and just 3.68% of our GDP.

How can you expect similar level of development when Nigeria is spending far less due to far less revenue. For Nigeria to operate at the level of Ghana, we need to generate 20% of our GDP in taxes, that is $76bn in taxes. Then spend have a budget that's 23% of our GDP (the extra 3% can come from loans or other sources of income, not now where loans are used to finance almost 50% of the budget) at $87.5bn. At this level, per capita spending will be equivalent at $486.

I see it as a miracle that open our abysmal spending that is just about a third of Ghana's, in terms of development, the difference is not that much. And upon this low revenue, unlike Ghana, we are the ones who will still subsidize everything, from fuel to ceaserian section to electricity bills.

About the loans and debt, Nigeria has one of the lowest debt-to-gdp ratios in the world at just about 23%. Most of the developed countries have it at 80-130%. Japan is even at 223% (yes, more than twice of their GDP in debt). Ghana is at 73%, Benin at 54%, Chad at 52%, Gabon at 61%. Yet, these countries like Ghana with relatively high debt don't use up to half of their budgets to service those debts, because those budgets are large compared to the debts. We in Nigeria with a supposedly low debt profile are the ones using almost half of our budget to service debt because the budget is too small compared to our GDP. Imagine we had 73% debt like Ghana. It's means we'll use 100% of our budget to service debt and still borrow even more to complete the debt servicing. Our debt is not the problem. The problem is that we are making too little revenue to service a debt that we should have serviced very easily if we made enough.

Another advantage of taxes, is that is promotes accountability. If Nigerians we're paying taxes, I doubt we'd allow all this corruption go on. As at now, all the money being stolen is like free money from the ground, and no-one cares. That's why nigerians will destroy public property and politicians steal with impunity. If these were built with taxation which is the collective sweat, blood and tears of the population, I doubt you'd allow anyone damage streetlights that we're built with your money. Any politician that does anyhow will be voted out. No more selling and buying votes, because if income taxes are 20%, and I'm earning 30K, meaning I'm paying taxes of 6K monthly, 72k annually, and 288k for a 4yr tenure, do you think I would collect 2K bribe during election to vote for someone I know would squander my 288k for the next 4yrs.

Imagine, all Nigerians pay 6-7% of their income as a firm of health insurance premium, for free healthcare, similar to the UK's NHS. If we have 80M economically active Nigerians, who earn ON AVERAGE 45K monthly. That would be an annual healthcare fund of at least, 3T annually (current healthcare budget is just about 300B of which 90% is spent on salaries). Imagine how that would boost the life expectancy of Nigerians and even the economy. With that, we'll be able to build all the hospitals we need, buy all the fancy high-end equipment we want, and employ adequate numbers of all the doctors and healthcare staff we need. If we don't have enough, we can even start poaching staff from poorer African countries like Burundi, Ethiopia, even Ghana. If 30% (900B) of that money went to drugs, it would boost our pharmaceutical industry, create more jobs, bring in more investment since pharmaceuticals are sure of a large market etc. With the tiny revenues of listed pharma companies on NSE, I doubt if the entire drug market in Nigeria is even up to a third of that. If 10% of that went on healthcare research, who will challenge us in Africa. It'll create jobs for the many biomedical graduates in well funded research institutes. This is just an example. Similar miracles will happen if this principle is applied in other sectors.

ahiboilandgas:
very true i always known that buhari will fail cos the ingredient to develop infastutures is not available .....i don't know who told Nigerians that we are a rich nation we might be miniral rich but poor via revenues or revenue collections and expense allocation.....in my earlier post i wrote the fgn needs to earn around 100bn dollars exclusively for any meaniful developments....but their is a foundation problems which more revenues and financing structure cannot tackle .....imagine if the 5bn dollars looted by abacha was used to develop 10000 mega watt mabilla since 1996 ,then the stolen 12 bn dollars gulf war wind fall used to develop mordern raily ways since 1990 then the 10 bn dollars subsides scams used to build a well manage refinary and nigerian exporting refine petroleum products,then then Nigeria airways is now Ethiopia airline,Nigeria shipping line earning 2 bn dollars from west africa shipping act ...then 16bn dollars obj to mordernize agriculture and value addition

ultron12345:
In my view, the government shouldn't waste it's scarecrow resources on commercial enterprises. Let the government resources go for things like basic education, healthcare, defence etc

Government doesn't need to spend a kobo of scarce resources on power. Just create the right policies and private investors will generate all the power we need in the shortest time possible. Not the current situation where electricity companies are complaining of being forced by NERC to sell below their cost price. Investors will take loans, build power plants and transmission/distribution lines, generate power, sell that power, and make a healthy profit, from which they will pay back their loans. Same thing goes for railways, airlines, pipebourne water etc. Let the private sector handle it.

The government needs to free up the economy. Regulations are too tight. Government just dey chook hand everywhere, spreading it's scarce resources thin. Look at NNPC refineries and how theyre wasting money. Was it not the Kaduna refinery that made 60B loss last year with zero revenue. Why should the government be running refineries in the first place. Deregulate and privatise these things PROPERLY and watch the private sector work wonders.

ultron12345:
Apart from all these waste that need to go, we also need to increase our revenue. Our revenue is generally too small. We need to work on that, especially tax revenue. The majority of Nigerians pay little to no taxes. I don't agree with this narrative that once we do away with NASS 0.12T (out of personnel budget of 2.4T), the country will suddenly turn to London. A family of 10 people, earning a combined N5k per month, no matter how non-corrupt they are, they will still suffer from poverty. Yes, waste and corruption have to go, but revenue has to also go up.

We have one of the lowest tax-to-gdp ratios in the world att 4-5%. France is at 48%, Germany is 44.5%. Those countries are much richer so let's leave them and compare with our neighbors with similar or even worse socioeconomic demographics. Benin is at 15.4%, Cameroon is at 18.2%, Ghana is at 20%, Togo is 15.5%.

Our budget of about $26bn is too small for a $380bn economy with 180M people. And the most surprising part is we still have to take loans to fund this tiny budget.

South Africa has a budget of $120bn for a smaller economy with 50M. But they are of different socioeconomics with Nigeria, so let's use a similar country as example.

Ghana with similar socioeconomics with Nigeria has a budget of $14bn annually, for a population of 29M and a $60bn GDP. Meaning their spending $483 per person and spend 23% of their GDP.

Nigeria on the other hand, is spending just about $144 per person and just 3.68% of our GDP.

How can you expect similar level of development when Nigeria is spending far less due to far less revenue. For Nigeria to operate at the level of Ghana, we need to generate 20% of our GDP in taxes, that is $76bn in taxes. Then spend have a budget that's 23% of our GDP (the extra 3% can come from loans or other sources of income, not now where loans are used to finance almost 50% of the budget) at $87.5bn. At this level, per capita spending will be equivalent at $486.

I see it as a miracle that open our abysmal spending that is just about a third of Ghana's, in terms of development, the difference is not that much. And upon this low revenue, unlike Ghana, we are the ones who will still subsidize everything, from fuel to ceaserian section to electricity bills.

About the loans and debt, Nigeria has one of the lowest debt-to-gdp ratios in the world at just about 23%. Most of the developed countries have it at 80-130%. Japan is even at 223% (yes, more than twice of their GDP in debt). Ghana is at 73%, Benin at 54%, Chad at 52%, Gabon at 61%. Yet, these countries like Ghana with relatively high debt don't use up to half of their budgets to service those debts, because those budgets are large compared to the debts. We in Nigeria with a supposedly low debt profile are the ones using almost half of our budget to service debt because the budget is too small compared to our GDP. Imagine we had 73% debt like Ghana. It's means we'll use 100% of our budget to service debt and still borrow even more to complete the debt servicing. Our debt is not the problem. The problem is that we are making too little revenue to service a debt that we should have serviced very easily if we made enough.

Another advantage of taxes, is that is promotes accountability. If Nigerians we're paying taxes, I doubt we'd allow all this corruption go on. As at now, all the money being stolen is like free money from the ground, and no-one cares. That's why nigerians will destroy public property and politicians steal with impunity. If these were built with taxation which is the collective sweat, blood and tears of the population, I doubt you'd allow anyone damage streetlights that we're built with your money. Any politician that does anyhow will be voted out. No more selling and buying votes, because if income taxes are 20%, and I'm earning 30K, meaning I'm paying taxes of 6K monthly, 72k annually, and 288k for a 4yr tenure, do you think I would collect 2K bribe during election to vote for someone I know would squander my 288k for the next 4yrs.

Imagine, all Nigerians pay 6-7% of their income as a firm of health insurance premium, for free healthcare, similar to the UK's NHS. If we have 80M economically active Nigerians, who earn ON AVERAGE 45K monthly. That would be an annual healthcare fund of at least, 3T annually (current healthcare budget is just about 300B of which 90% is spent on salaries). Imagine how that would boost the life expectancy of Nigerians and even the economy. With that, we'll be able to build all the hospitals we need, buy all the fancy high-end equipment we want, and employ adequate numbers of all the doctors and healthcare staff we need. If we don't have enough, we can even start poaching staff from poorer African countries like Burundi, Ethiopia, even Ghana. If 30% (900B) of that money went to drugs, it would boost our pharmaceutical industry, create more jobs, bring in more investment since pharmaceuticals are sure of a large market etc. With the tiny revenues of listed pharma companies on NSE, I doubt if the entire drug market in Nigeria is even up to a third of that. If 10% of that went on healthcare research, who will challenge us in Africa. It'll create jobs for the many biomedical graduates in well funded research institutes. This is just an example. Similar miracles will happen if this principle is applied in other sectors.

ahiboilandgas:
i really dont know ur problem sha ....how does this 2000km coverd post affect u ?why are u pained ? I really cant get it sha ....let me engage in more meaningful discussion that add to my intellectual wealth...

Thisnut:
calm down sir, It's not that serious. I know folks like you, always looking for people to bully and have it your way,
And when you can't get it your way you become very violent.

Calm down sir, anger gives high BP. Small observation you get very violent. Hmmm!

maishai:
I currently stay in a remote village ,Imagine Giving out a bike on higher purchase to deliver #3000 daily, before 8am in the morning He has paid #900 in all manner of tickets, The least he gives Police daily is #300 and on market days VIO must collect #500...............Can You now tell me this poor bike man is not paying his taxes.........On the best day of his life riding he makes about #7000

Now He is a regular on this route, woe betide him that he tries to evade this taxes and he does not pay the next day........ That Bike is Gone




All I am saying is that You cant function commercially in this country without paying a form of tax or the other, Government just has to become more accountable for the ones they are collecting

maishai:
This is the biggest lie the Government keeps peddling......You can never be into any legitimate hustle in Nigeria without Government rearing their ugly heads to collect taxes......You can enquire from the typical pure water seller or Alabaru in Major markets, these people pay daily money(taxes) in order to operate, most even pay before the first revenue for the day comes in....This is just a simple example more abounds...... Where do all this taxes that are being collected end........


The government should just find ways of stopping Godfathers from diverting all this monies that are usually collected on daily basis instead of taxing citizens to death

Thisnut:
calm down sir, It's not that serious. I know folks like you, always looking for people to bully and have it your way,
And when you can't get it your way you become very violent.

Calm down sir, anger gives high BP. Small observation you get very violent. Hmmm!

emadamysy:
Those individuals collecting that sums from the bike man are not revenue collectors and such can't be termed as tax payment . This is simply the corruption we are talking. We need a system in a place to tackle such , but don't know how it can be achieved as there would still be loop holes .

emmanuelewumi:
The revenue collected are not documented, few gets to government.

An average Danfo bus will pay a minimum of N3000 to Agbero, LASTMA etc every day, with little or nothing coming to the coffers of government.

. According to LIRS, the total number of Lagosians which pay tax is less than 500,000 this is too poor for a state with a population of 20 million

ahiboilandgas:
i expend 40k on several illegals unions levy to load a truck from Apapa depots.......in a months over 1m goes to load 25 trucks ...union people are balling....

maishai:
I currently stay in a remote village ,Imagine Giving out a bike on higher purchase to deliver #3000 daily, before 8am in the morning He has paid #900 in all manner of tickets, The least he gives Police daily is #300 and on market days VIO must collect #500...............Can You now tell me this poor bike man is not paying his taxes.........On the best day of his life riding he makes about #7000

Now He is a regular on this route, woe betide him that he tries to evade this taxes and he does not pay the next day........ That Bike is Gone




All I am saying is that You cant function commercially in this country without paying a form of tax or the other, Government just has to become more accountable for the ones they are collecting

emmanuelewumi:
Union is for exploitation in this part of the country. The big Agberos in Lagos go home everyday with between 700k to N1.2 million every day... They finance election of local government chairmen, states house of assembly, house of representative, Senate. They contribute towards election of state governors.

No wonder they are above the lawyer. A medical doctor with about 30 years experience in the United States, had to receive the blessings of a popular Agbero before he could become a member of the house of representative.


Won't be surprised if the Agbero will contest to become a Senator or a governor.


Too bad

emadamysy:
Those individuals collecting that sums from the bike man are not revenue collectors and such can't be termed as tax payment . [b]This is simply the corruption we are talking. [/b]We need a system in a place to tackle such , but don't know how it can be achieved as there would still be loop holes .

emmanuelewumi:
Let it slide.

Thisnut:
calm down sir, It's not that serious. I know folks like you, always looking for people to bully and have it your way,
And when you can't get it your way you become very violent.

Calm down sir, anger gives high BP. Small observation you get very violent. Hmmm!

ahiboilandgas:
am against total privatization..Nigerian is not a normal country and Nigerians lead private sectors are monsters that must be watched with the eagle eyes ....france have a lot of govt own enterprise and it working well and delivering dividen....an exclusive run private sector power firms can lead to massive exploitation...the disco are already doing it ....no capacity to meter after 5 years ....they know only 1 thing increase in tariffs without improve service......look at what Ap moller is doing with ports in Lagas ...so poorly managed that trucks are lining up on the streets due to lack of holding bays and modernise cranes to offload containers ....how about MM 2 or the exploitative lekki link bridges .....this not a normal Nation .....a cost reflective tariffs wouls lead to over 50 percent of Nigeria to be off electricty....electity can be a social services

ositadima1:
Privatization is ok, but the problem we have is that the privatized facilities are being owned indirectly by government officials or people who have links to the government.

This affects the policies and regulations made by the government towards these companies or sectors. E.g. why the government is yet to mandate prepaid meters beats me. Why are the majority of users still on estimated bills, why ?
How can a business provide efficient services when it is sure to collect charges whether they provide d service or not ?

I am telling you guys with confidence that if the government enforces prepaid meters all these discos will sit up and be on the same level as our telecom companies.