Stanley Nkwazema
25 April 2008
Abuja — Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mrs Ifueko Omoigui-Okauru, yesterday said the country would require N5.46 trillion to put its infrastructure in place.
Omoigui-Okauru said the amount was more than the total revenue allocation to states and local governments in the country in the last eight years. She said this yesterday in Abuja, at a national roundtable organised by The Initiatives, an intellectual group in the House of Representatives, where the Speaker, Dimeji Bankole said economic stagnation is a threat to democracy.
Speaking on Internally Generated Revenue and the Challenges of National Development, Omoigui-Okauru said the nation ought to look beyond oil as the main source of Nigeria's income, adding that the commodity has a life span. She said the huge amount required for development of infrastructure would amount to about 50 per cent of the money allocated to states and local governments between 1999 and 2007, adding that the estimate did not include cost of skill development and human capital, operations, maintenance, spare parts and Turn Around Maintenace.
"We would need about N5.46 trillion to fund infrastructure development today. This amount averages at about 50 per cent of the amount of monies allocated to states and local governments over an eight-year period. In addition to the fact that this is an estimate, it is noteworthy that this estimate excludes the cost of what it will take to fund skills development, human capital, operations maintenance, spare parts and Turn-Around Maintenance," she said.
She said education alone would require N20 trillion per annum, while health and other sectors would require more, adding that monies collected from the federation account and Value Added Tax (VAT) pool, including excess crude allocation for the period was about N16.5 trillion.
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