The 2023 Budget recently signed by President Muhammadu Buhari has shown that the government has three main Focus which are Health, Security and Education going by the allocation made to the sectors from the Federal Government.
The Director General of the Franco-Nigerian Chamber of Commerce, Moses Umoru, disclosed this while featuring on the TVC News Programme, Business Nigeria on Friday afternoon.
Mr Umoru while looking at the issues said the Federal Government has shown where its priorities lie in the year 2023 with Health, Security and Education all having the highest allocation with Security the largest chunk.
He added that whoever wins the Presidential Election after the Election in February should look to follow in the footsteps of the Muhammadu Buhari administration by ensuring the Finance Bill which was first introduced in 2019 should be sustained.
He said the Finance Bill which is in its 4th Year gives life to Tax Reforms and ensure that the government can raise revenue and also order its spending better.
He added however that beyond what the government has done well is the humongous level of public debt which is set to grow by over 11 Trillion Naira based on the 2023 Budget.
He said the Debt Servicing to Revenue which currently stands at 100-119 percent is not good enough and this will become worse based on the 2023 Budget.
He said at the Current rate Nigeria needs to borrow more to be able to repay the current debt level, a situation he said is unsustainable.
He added that the nation needs to get creative to raise revenue and leverage better on Sectors that are performing well like Agriculture.
Going Further, He said the Agriculture Sector contributed about 29 percent to the GDP in 2022 which is just food production.
He called for Value addition in the Agriculture Sector to ensure Farmers and the nation earns more revenue.
He also listed the mining sector as one the nation needs to leverage on for increased revenue and enhanced national development.
