Senate President Ahmad Lawan says the federal government
should explore other ways of financing its projects in order to reduce
borrowing.
Lawan spoke during a joint session of the national assembly
on Thursday where President Muhammadu Buhari presented the 2022 budget
proposal.
The senate president said the ministries, departments and
agencies (MDAs) have the potential to contribute more to the federation
account.
“Mr President, we understand that due to paucity of revenue,
the federal government has to resort to raising funds from foreign and domestic
sources to provide infrastructure across the country,” he said.
“That is why the
national assembly approved the requests for borrowing. The commitment of the
federal government in providing infrastructure across the country means that
the funds must be raised one way or the other.
“Government should also explore other sources of funding for
its projects in order to reduce borrowing.”
Lawan said the recent efforts by the national assembly in
collaboration with the executive to ensure revenue is gotten from the
revenue-generating agencies is a step in the right direction.
“Equally important is
the recent position taken by the legislature and the executive to insist on
zero allocation for ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) that fail to
remit/upload their revenues for the 2022 appropriation,” he said.
“This saw an increase in the contribution of the MDAs by
over N400 billion. It is my view that MDAs can contribute to the federation
account much more than that.
“This policy should be expanded and deepened to cover more
MDAs.”
As of the second quarter of 2021, the Debt Management Office
(DMO) said Nigeria’s total public debt (federal and state governments) has
risen to N35.46 trillion.
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