Interview, Society

Nigeria Is Getting Out Of Recession – Kemi Adeosun

The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun spoke candidly about the economic situation in Nigeria recently: “My requirement every month – salaries, statutory transfers – every month, I need N210 billion. Debt, not the debt that we are planning to take but inherited debt, I need N120 billion just to service it. So every month I need N330 billion.”

“Now for FAAC (Federation Accounts Allocation Committee), shared between Federal, States and Local Government, I require without capital budget, just recurrent is N700 billion. We are also trying to ensure compliance with the Fiscal Responsibility Act. The agencies that are still outside of government, their size of revenue is actually more than the federal budget.”

“In fact, IMF did a survey which shows that it’s 120 per cent, the size of our entire budget. So in other words, there is a parallel budget sitting outside the budget. The CBN, NDIC and NNPC; they sit outside the budget and we need to bring them in. They have to become more accountable and so we are working on that.”

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“The National Assembly has given us the support of ensuring that if these agencies do not submit their budget, they will not be able to pay anything other than salaries. These agencies were set up to be revenue generating for the government but they have become revenue generating for themselves; we need that money to come back into the central budget.”

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“So, we are working with the CBN to issue a promissory note to clear the backlog. When we clear the backlog then we start afresh. If you get a government contract, these are your payment terms, and that will also give us lower pricing. What we have discovered is that because people feel that there is a risk that they may not be paid, they load the price of the contract.”

“In the midst of low oil prices, heavily depleted reserves, what can we do? We can only but manage the limited resources and that is why we will continue to do our best. Our priority today would be Nigerian masses, Nigerians and no other person. Within the limited resources at our disposal, we will continue to give emphasis to those who want to import raw materials. We will give emphasis to those who want to deploy plants and equipment that will help this country.”

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“We will direct support and emphasis to those who are going into agriculture, who are importing agricultural raw materials and implements because we love our country.”