The Chief Executive Officer, Economic Associates, Dr Ayo Teriba, has called for the optimisation and valuation of Nigeria’s assets to engender budgetary funding for a stable economy. Teriba gave the advice at the Institute of Directors (IoD) webinar with the theme: “The Directors’ Prospect for 2022, What would Change and What we should do,” on Thursday.
The economist said that global trends showed that the country would gain more from valuation particularly of idle corporate assets, than an outright sale.
He said that annual spending must be funded in full for the actualisation of Nigeria’s medium-term plan.
“The surest path to full and effective funding of annual budget and a five-year plan is to turn to our portfolio of national assets and unlock liquidity from them.”
“There is a need to know the market value of your corporate assets and there is more to gain from value enhancement of our cities and prime urban land should be exploited as well,” he said.
Responding, Mr Ben Akabueze, the Director-General, Budget Office of the Federation, said that the 2022 revenue projection was not based on taxation but on oil and other revenue generation dynamics.
Akabueze added that the budget, which was aspirational and realistic was prepared on the premise that the petrol subsidy would last up till June 2022.
He noted that the subsidy reversal would create a N1.3 trillion gap in the revenue projections for the year.
The President, Institute of Directors, IoD, Dr Ije Jidenma, noting the norm for experts to present economic outlook to guide their members said that the institute’s focus was as an active guide to directors.
Jidenma projected normalisation of economic activities, with the third and fourth quarter of the year 2022 affected by the forthcoming 2023 elections.
She said that the quality of implementation of government policies would be key and called for the exploration of the country’s abundant strategic raw materials and strength of population.
The IoD President charged organisations to reorganize their operational models to accommodate economic realities by embracing technology and cost-cutting dynamic to maintain sustainability.
“Where there are challenges, there are opportunities and we must be thorough to identify these opportunities for dynamic strategies businesses can proactively implement for a better outcome, among others.”
“There is a need for a well-diversified revenue base for the country to ensure macroeconomic stability and all-round economic growth,” she said.
Mr Taiwo Oyedele, Fiscal Policy Partner and Africa Tax Leader, Pricewaterhouse Coopers, stressed the need to use data and technology to get intelligence to ensure that all taxpayers are pulled into the tax net.
He also called for the harmonisation of tax bodies to ensure proper remittances to the government and address issues of structural tax inequity.