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Don seeks review of government’s current developmental plan

By Toyin Olasinde
28 November 2016   |   2:48 am
Experts have urged government to review the current National Development Planning to make the policy more coherent in generating the needed employment and creating more wealth for the nation.
Dr. Olateju Somorin

Dr. Olateju Somorin

…Wants policy to create more employment, wealth

Experts have urged government to review the current National Development Planning to make the policy more coherent in generating the needed employment and creating more wealth for the nation.

Speaking at 35th induction ceremony of Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN), the stakeholders argued that the four National Development Plans since independence (1962-1968; 1970-1974; 1975-1980 and 1981-1985) have achieved a lot in employment generation and wealth creation.

According to them, three or four Rolling Plans era (1990-1992,1993-1995 and 1994-1996 and 1997-1999) have had positive impacts on employment generation and economic growth.

Specifically, the Special Guest of Honour, Prof Grace Tola Olutunla, said: “the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS), a Charles Soludo legacy, and their state and local government counterparts, SEEDS/LEEDS, have all promoted some employment generation from our human, material, capital and natural resources. While the individual and group lectures and speeches on how to fix the Nigerian economy are commendable I think there should be a more coherent forum and strategy to make coordinated National Development Plans.

She, therefore, urged the Buhari government to revive the policy of national development plans so that the economy will successfully return to the path of recovery and growth.

“In the past few months, virtually every sector of this nation (eg Health, Education, Aviation, Agriculture, Housing sector and even Sports) is asking the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency, requiring special attention and resource allocation to fix such sector,” she said.

Citing the CBN governor, CITN President, Dr. Olateju Somorin said: “Nigeria’s economy is currently facing a classical case of ‘stagflation’, a situation which largely occurs when a country’s Gross Domestic Product is falling or stagnant, while unemployment and inflation are rising, all simultaneously.

She continued: “What we are witnessing in recent times is that tax revenue contribution to total government revenue continues to increase, but with a low tax-GDP ratio of 3.98% at 2015 levels in a N94.144 Trillion GDP economy.

“With government’s quest to achieve a 20% tax to GDP ratio, it leaves no one in doubt of the legion of Tax Administrators and Tax professionals required to navigate the tax laws on behalf of tax clients to ensure equity and fairness in its application and compliance.”

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