KEMI OMONIYI
Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has advised state governors to adopt new strategies aimed at boosting their Internally Generated Revenues (IGRs), and avoid over reliance on external borrowing.
Okonjo-Iweala spoke in Abuja, during the induction for newly-elected governors and re-elected ones.
Speaking on the theme, “Task of Nation Building”, the former Minister of Finance said revenue generation is one of the critical elements that would help to enhance development. She thus urged state governors to diversify their revenues to promote development at various levels.
She challenged state governments to publish federation revenue allocation and IGR that accrue to them to earn citizens’ trust and keep them abreast of their finances.
She said: “We used to publish this information during my time as Finance Minister under President Obasanjo and Jonathan’s administrations. You must resume this practice so your citizens can have information on your account.
“Your Excellencies, please watch your debt profiles and keep careful control of expenditure.
“Even as we invest in infrastructure, education and basic healthcare, please endeavour to pay teachers, healthcare workers.”
On debt profile, the WTO Director, said Nigeria’s gross debt level has climbed from N19.3 trillion in 2015 to N91.6 trillion in 2023. The debt-to-GDP ratio has almost doubled from 20 percent to 39 percent over that time period.
“While the debt-to-GDP ratio may not look so alarming, as revenues decline, the burden of debt servicing has increased dramatically.
“The debt service to revenue ratio is certainly alarming, at 83.2 percent in 2021 and 96.3 percent in 2022, according to the World Bank. This means that at the federal level, after servicing our debt there is little room to pay for recurrent expenditures, let alone investment.
“Excellencies, please watch your debt profiles, and keep careful control of expenditures, even as you invest in infrastructure, education, and basic health systems. Please endeavour to pay teachers, health workers, and others their salaries, and retirees their pensions.
“The International Monetary Fund projects 3.2 percent Gross Domestic Product growth this year and 3 percent next year – slightly better than global growth but underperforming the projected growth rates for sub-Saharan Africa as a whole, which are at 3.6 percent and 4.2 percent respectively.
“The current GDP growth rates are higher than the very low 1.2 percent average annual growth rate registered between 2015 and 2019, the five years before the pandemic, but well below the 6.4 percent average for the preceding five-year period, from 2010 to 2014.
“In our country, given its size, diversity, and economic development challenges, the scale of the task of nation-building is particularly large.
“As you take office or return to your governorships, our 222 million compatriots will be counting on you to rise to the occasion. The states are closest to the people: what you do- or don’t do – directly impacts people across the country,” she said.
On the “Japa” bug, the former Minister urged youths who leave the shores of Nigeria in pursuit of greener pastures to remember to ‘Kaka (return home)’ to build their country.
President Muhammadu Buhari, represented by the Chief of Staff, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, who commended the Nigerian Governors Forum for their efforts in the promotion of unity in the country irrespective of political parties, advised the incoming governors to deliver on their campaign promises.
