Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission, Prof. Tunji Olaopa, has said that President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda is transformational as shown through the gains it has recorded in different sectors of the nation’s economy.

Olaopa said this during the “First International Conference on Public Policy, Governance and Development,” organised by the Department of Public Administration, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile Ife, yesterday.

In his keynote lecture entitled “Building a Promising Future in Africa through Policy Re-Evaluation: The Defining Issues in Perspective,” Olaopa decried a deficit of good governance in the past with an enduring positive developmental impact on the citizens.

He lamented that in the whole of Africa, development at the country level had been scant except in Botswana, Rwanda, South Africa, Mauritius and Ethiopia, saying that it is this poor development on the continent that has rendered the Renewed Hope Agenda imperative.

He said: “This conversation for me is therefore relevant as an opportunity to challenge scholars and policy researchers as change agents to come on board the moving train of progress being piloted with the benefit of the leadership sophistication of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and the imperative need for all hands to be on deck to deepen and consolidate the game-changing eco-system and public trust that has built up for a transformational journey with great promise.” Olaopa noted how the agenda had transformed the nation’s tax system.

According to him, the tax landscape is undergoing a significant overhaul as shown in an increase in tax exemption for small businesses from yearly turnover of N25 million to N50 million, a reduction of the burden on businesses, and a rise in revenue collection efficiency.

He said that the agenda “introduces a range of tax incentives to stimulate growth in priority sectors. It also ensures that the poor are protected from adverse effects of tax increases, making it a progressive and equitable reform. It addresses the challenge of multiple and excessive taxation with the reduction in Company Income Tax, which will ease the cost of doing business and improve the investment climate.”

He said that through the agenda, there is huge hope in agricultural productivity through the implementation of modern farming techniques and technology adoption that supports small-holder farmers to form clusters and cooperatives as they enjoy the economies of scale that come from large-scale farming.

In the power sector, Olaopa said that the giant strides recorded through the Renewed Hope Agenda were also evident. According to him, the agenda through its reform has paved the way for the emergence of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI), which is already fast-tracking electricity projects and private investments into the power sector.

Olaopa also said that developments in the maritime sector had shown significant growth with increased revenues accruing to the national treasury.

He added that the Renewed Hope Agenda had provided an impetus for governance reform as expressed in the creation of the Ministry of Regional Development “that presents some sort of administrative answers to the most critical national questions bedevilling the nation’s defective and dysfunctional federalism.”