The federal government said yesterday that it will spend the $322.51 million Abacha loot on empowering indigent Nigerians.
Speaking with journalists in Washington DC yesterday, The Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, confirmed the recovery of the sum of US$322,515,931.83 Abacha funds from the Swiss Government into a special account in the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The funds, according to her, have been earmarked for the National Social Safety Nets programme of the federal government.
“The objective of the National Social Safety Nets Project for Nigeria is to provide access to targeted transfers to poor and vulnerable households under an expanded national social safety nets system,” Adeosun stated.
She also hinted that the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS) has raised the tax payers’ base from 13 million in 2015 to 17 million as at 2018, with more high net worth individuals being captured.
According to her, some states have recorded a surge in assets declaration by high net worth individuals, citing Lagos and Ogun States as examples.
She said, “The level of compliance has been considerable especially personal income taxes, and the state is excited about the number of people who have adjusted their level of compliance. Let me give example with Ogun State. I was speaking with the Chairman there, and he said the number of people paying N10 million and above in Ogun State has risen to 200. We asked for that statistics before; I do not think that Ogun had more than 20. So, VAIDS has succeeded in getting a High Networth Individuals (HNIs) really stand up to pay their fair share for national development.”
Adeosun mentioned that the rate of compliance as well as requests from professional bodies led to the extension of the deadline from March 30, 2018 to June 30, 2018.
Meanwhile, governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele assured yesterday that the apex bank will do everything possible to ensure that the country’s positive growth outlook is sustained.
The CBN governor spoke during a joint press briefing with the Minister of Finance, Adeosun, at the end of the 2018 International Monetary Fund and World Bank Spring Meeting in Washington DC, United States.
On the monetary front, Emefiele disclosed that the country’s foreign reserves had risen to US$47.93 billion. He reiterated Nigeria’s positive growth outlook, noting that the IMF and World Bank had projected a growth of 2.5 per cent for Nigeria.
“There is need to save for the raining day and also continue to grow the foreign reserves. If we had enough reserves, we wouldn’t have suffered the recession shocks,” he explained.
The CBN governor assured that concerted efforts were ongoing to realise the 80 per cent target for financial inclusion by 2020.
On her part, Adeosun, who noted that the present growth outlook contrasted with the outlook in 2015, stated that inflation rate was slowing down while the foreign reserves were rising.
Expressing optimism on federal government’s sustenance of the growth trajectory, the minister however called for vigilance and focus for the country not to fall back into recession.
She said, “We are confident that if we diligently implement our economic plan, we will grow the economy. We have room to grow but other countries do not have rooms to grow. By 2019, the growth will be far more robust than the present level in 2018. We are therefore very optimistic in sustaining Nigeria’s economic growth. We are going to use this opportunity to grow our fiscal buffers, particularly aggressively growing our revenue base. The Administration has succeeded in building macroeconomic resilience for Nigeria, particularly revising the funding mix, rebuilding fiscal buffers, enhancing foreign exchange reserves and focusing on import substitution strategies.”
On the State-Owned-Enterprises such as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, she disclosed that the government would continue to efficiently and effectively manage their costs and plug leakages.
“We must make sure that every money that is earned comes in. We will drive the process of improving governance,” she added.
On the nation’s domestic debt, the Minister stated that the Government would not aggressively grow the debt. She disclosed that the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS) deadline was extended by three months till June 30, 2018 due to the appeals from taxpayers for more time to regularize their tax status.
She revealed that the present Administration has raised the taxpayers’ base from 13 million in 2015 to 17 million as at 2018.
Meanwhile, faulting the comment made by the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, berating government officials for not attending a US-Nigeria Investment Summit at the Nigerian embassy on Saturday as part of the World Bank-IMF Springs Meeting going on Washington DC, USA, the Minister of Finance and the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Adeosun and Emefiele, have said they were not scheduled to attend the summit.
Speaking at the joint press conference in Washington DC yesterday, Emefiele and Adeosun said it was unfair for the public to flay them over an event they were not aware of beforehand.
The CBN governor who apologized to investors who attended the summit explained that he was not aware of the summit before he arrived for the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) Spring Meetings.
He said, “I think, it is important for me to say this. When I arrived in Washington, the officials of the Embassy spoke with me that there was going to be a US-Nigeria Summit and I said I will check my schedule because I wasn’t consulted when this summit was being organized. What one would have expected is that they would have checked my schedule and that of the Finance minister if they thought that our presence at the summit was very necessary. They could have checked our schedule to see that there was no conflict. I sit here to say the US Nigeria Summit was meant to hold between 2pm and 3pm, whereas the World Bank Development Committee plenary session which is an assembly of ministers and governors of central banks was to hold between 2.15 and 5pm. There was no way the minister of finance and myself could have been at those meetings.”
The CBN Governor further explained that the minister of Finance and himself were in Washington DC to attend the statutory meetings of the World Bank and IMF.
“The minister of Finance and for me being the governor of the CBN, what takes preeminence is the meetings in the IMF as well as the meeting at the World Bank”, he added.
On her part, Adeosun said while she got to know of the event late, there was no way she could attend, as she had to represent not only Nigeria but 22 other countries in Africa.
She noted: “I attended the IMFC which is the highest decision making body of the IMF and I represent 23 African countries in that role. So, one of the things I have to do is to issue a statement on behalf of those 23 countries, which includes most of the Anglophone countries like South Africa, Mozambique and others. So, my primary role here as well as having the Nigerian hat on is to represent the 23 African countries. There has been some controversy over the scheduling. I wasn’t due at any event. I was here as a governor of the IMF and member of IMFC to represent the 23 African countries and that schedule is what I must adhere to. I think maybe there were some scheduling challenges there.”
