Tinubu’s government should prioritise fiscal retrenchment, says DMO’s Patience Oniha

The Debt Management Office (DMO) has called on President Bola Tinubu to prioritise “fiscal retrenchment” amid the county’s economic crises. It also stated that Nigeria’s debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio was within the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) specifications for its peer group. DMO director-general Patience Oniha said this in an interview on Tuesday in Abuja. Ms Oniha highlighted that improvement in revenue generation was crucial for the country to achieve accelerated socio-economic development and debt sustainability.

According to her, recent policies by the federal government to focus more on revenue generation are the right steps that could reduce the country’s debt burden. “We cannot discuss growth, development, or debt without giving due consideration to revenue. It is now imperative that we confront revenues and take decisive actions to further strengthen our revenue streams from all sources,“ Ms Oniha said. She urged Mr Tinubu’s government to prioritise fiscal retrenchment while assuring that the various measures to attract foreign exchange inflows would increase external reserves and support the naira exchange rate. Ms Oniha explained that the prudential ceiling for such countries was 55 per cent and not 40 per cent.

DMO recently announced that the country’s total debt stock increased to N121.67 trillion in March from N97.34 trillion in December 2023, indicating an increase of N24.33 trillion. She said the increase was partly due to exchange rate fluctuations and securitisation of N4.90 trillion as part of the securitisation of the N7.3 trillion Ways and Means Advances approved by the National Assembly. Ms Oniha, however, clarified that the total debt stock included the domestic and external debt stock of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). (NAN)