The Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG) has advised President Muhammadu Buhari to be more transparent in subsidy management.

Low production rate, theft and pipeline vandalism have combined to rob Nigeria of the benefits of the high cost of crude oil in the global market, according to NESG in a communiqué issued at the end of a meeting of its board of directors.

Board chairman Asue Ighodalo signed the statement.

“We strongly advise greater transparency and simplicity in the management and communication of various subsidies, like in petroleum products and electricity, to establish their true costs that benefit the people,’’ he stated.

Mr Ighodalo stated that declining investment and divestment, high cost of production, and a harsh operating environment also contributed to robbing Nigeria of the benefits.

“Nigeria is not appropriating the benefits of high global prices. As a result, fiscal pressure is imploding because of declining revenues and soaring public debt. Only recently, the minister for finance alerted Nigerians that the cost of debt servicing has surpassed the federal government’s retained revenue as total public debt continues to rise,” he added.

The NESG leader noted that despite increased budgetary allocation to defence and national security, insecurity had not abated.

“Despite some changes in the leadership of the national security apparatus, conditions have not improved. There is hardly any need to itemise the adverse impact of insecurity on food prices, productivity, ease and cost of doing business, investor confidence and national pride,’’ he stated.

He added that as a policy think tank, the NESG would continue to offer policy advice to any government in power in the national interest.

He commended the Federal Government for initiating the recently-launched National Development Plan (2021–2025).

“We remain resolute in our mandate – we will continue to be in the vanguard of economic reforms and positive change. The Board of Directors of the NESG notes and commends the Federal Government for commencing the implementation of the Medium-Term National Development Plan (2021–2025),’’ Mr Ighodalo explained.

He called for steps by the government to tackle revenue challenges that created room for the rising national debt.

The NESG urged Mr Buhari’s regime to take decisive action to tackle its revenue challenges which cannot be divorced from leakages through oil theft, difficult operating environment for businesses, and lack of innovation in tax collection.

“The challenges have resulted in low accretion to the nation’s revenue base. We strongly believe these leakages have continued unabated because of the absence of sanctions and ineffective tax systems,” Mr Ighodalo stressed. “We must return to the path of debt sustainability in the face of dwindling revenues not to create a debt burden for future governments and, indeed, future generations.”

He told the regime to prioritise expenditure, limit spending to items “we can sustain, and eliminate wastage and graft” in government and also urged all tiers of government to lead by example through a drastic reduction in governance costs to reflect the austere times.

According to Mr Ighodalo, urgent action is required to ensure food self-sufficiency by prioritising critical value chains and supporting private sector-led interventions. 

(NAN)