There were mixed reactions yesterday over the recommendations of the Policy Advisory Council set up by President Bola Tinubu, which among other things, called for declaration of state of emergency in revenue generation and national security.
The council, which was set up by Tinubu when he was still a president-elect, also recommended the merger of three government agencies – the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).
The three organisations will now transform into Nigerian Revenue Service, according to the report of the council, which has Senator Tokunbo Abiru as chairman and Sumaila Zubairu, Dr Doris Anite and Dr Yemi Cardoso as members. The document was produced in partnership with KPMG, a consulting firm.
In addition to that, the council recommended the implementation of the Stephen Oransaye report on rationalisation and restructuring of government ministries, agencies and parastatals.
A revenue target of $1trillion was set within eight years from the planned recommended merger of the three agencies.
To grow the contribution of the manufacturing sector to the gross domestic product, the government was advised to provide incentives, including partnerships with strategic trading partners, “to accelerate the growth of key sectors (light electronics assembly, garments, fertiliser, refined sugar, oil palm, automotive), ultimately generating a target output in excess of $50billion annually.”
Other targets as contained in the document is to achieve a 7 per cent average annual growth rate from the present 3.25 per cent, lift 100 million out of poverty, create the enabling environment to generate 50 million jobs and deliver sustained inclusive growth.
Also, the document recommended the passage of an Emergency Economic Reform Bill to grant the president special powers to drive the economic reform agenda.
There was also a proposal for the establishment of a strategic co-ordinating organ to ensure alignment of monetary and fiscal policies, to be chaired by the president and include the vice president, minister of finance, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, minister of trade and investment, and chief economic adviser to the president.
The council also recommended the domestication of at least 50 per cent (valued at $17bn) of the value chains of the three largest manufacturing sub-sectors by contribution to gross domestic product, that is food and beverages, chemicals and petrochemicals and textile, apparel and footwear.
The launch of a consumer credit scheme for housing and consumer goods (such as automobile, furniture etc) was equally proposed via the following options: utilisation of 20 per cent of the Cash Reserve Fund of N5 trillion in the CBN, set aside to promote long-term (20-30 years) mortgages and affordable consumer credit to leverage pension funds of N9 trillion.”
