Debt profile: Revenue generation, a major fiscal constraint for FG–DMO

The Debt Management Office (DMO) says revenue generation is a major constraint of the Federal Government, and impacts the country’s debt situation negatively. Patience Oniha, Director-General of the DMO, said this in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja. According to Oniha, the systemic resource mobilisation has been compounded by recent economic recessions. She said that the most viable solution to the country’s challenge remained to grow revenues and plug all leakages, as cutting expenditure was not a viable option.

She, however, said that several measures were being taken by the Federal Government under the Strategic Revenue Growth Initiatives (SRGI) to improve revenue and fiscal prudence. “These measures include improving the tax administration framework, including tax filing and payment compliance improvement. According to her, it also includes evaluation of the process and policy effectiveness of fiscal incentives. Oniha said that the Federal Government was also taking measures to identify and plug existing revenue leakages to enhance tax compliance and reduce evasion.

“To further enhance independent revenue collection, government aims to optimise the operational efficiencies and revenue generation focus of government agencies. Introduction of new and further increases in existing pro-health taxes, like the excise on carbonated drinks” will also enhance revenue generation, she said.