October 7, 2022

…Says revenue collection, expenditure management reforms yielding positive results

President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday said efforts are being made to ensure all taxable Nigerians declare their incomes and pay the right taxes to the appropriate authorities.

The President disclosed this when he presented the 2023 Appropriation Bill of N20.52 trillion to the joint session of the National Assembly in Abuja.

“I am happy to report that the revenue collection and expenditure management reforms are yielding positive results as reflected in non-oil revenue performance”.

He noted that while we continue to implement revenue administration reforms and improve our collection efficiency, we urgently need to find new ways of generating revenue.

He identified revenue shortfall as the greatest threat to Nigeria’s fiscal viability saying that special attention will also be given to revenue generating agencies going forward.

“Revenue shortfalls remain the greatest threat to Nigeria’s fiscal viability. We have therefore accelerated efforts towards ensuring that all taxable Nigerians declare income from all sources and pay taxes due to the appropriate authorities.

“We are also monitoring the internally generated revenues of agencies of government to ensure they are appropriately accounted for and remitted to the Consolidated Revenue Fund,’’ he said.

“As we seek to grow our government revenues, we must also focus on the efficiency of utilisation of our limited resources.

“Critical steps we are taking include immediate implementation of additional measures towards reducing the cost of governance and the discontinuation of fuel subsidy in 2023 as announced earlier.

“We are however mindful of the fact that reducing government spending too drastically can be socially destabilising, and so will continue to implement programmes to support the more vulnerable segments of society,’’ he said.