In what it termed its working guide in shaping revenue for the future, Youth Party has outlined practical measures to increase federal governments revenue by at least 30 billion USD within three years.

Making their plans known in Lagos, Francis King Akinlotan who is member, board of trustees, Youth Party said: “Nigeria has a huge revenue problem as we are not generating enough to cover our spending. Recurrent expenditure is high and our debt is piling up. Our ever-rising debt service is consistently crowding out expenditure in critical infrastructure and human capital development.

We cannot adequately fund our priorities – our police, schools, military and healthcare. Almost a third of our budget is borrowed which in turn means that over N2t of our annual budget is for debt servicing. Recurrent expenditure is high and we cannot comfortably pay salaries from the revenue we generate.

Our budget deficits have averaged N4.4t. The government should not be borrowing for day -to-day spending and salaries payment. Their reliance on revenue from oil has made our revenue generation vulnerable and volatile, this in recent times have partly caused us to go into recession.”

Akinlotan enumerated its party’s plan for fixing the country’s revenue problems with the following

suggestions; eliminate unnecessary tax exemptions that has cost the government about 2tr, Increase in revenue generation (a progressive tax regime that reduces corporate tax to 22% and attracts the paticipation of the informal economy), partial divestment of federal government’s equity in specific companies, replacement of universal petrol subsidy with targeted public transport and LNG subsidy, stopping electricity subsidy, reduce cost of governance and public trust and accountability.

He added: “We have ministries, departments and Agencies (MDAs) that do not work or have outlived their usefulness. The Youth Party urges the government to prioritize the implementation of the Stephen Orosanya’s report that was set up by president Goodluck Jonathan and ensure compliance that suit the peculiarities of today’s governance structure.

The money that would be saved from the scrapping and merging of the MDAs could be used to fund the real economy – fund human capital and provide seed funding for start-ups. Our cost of governance must reflect our revenue realities. We recommend the reduction in salaries and the undue luxurious allowances in our national assembly budget in a way that will be unattractive to rent-seekers.”

Source:- Vanguardngr

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