‘Nigeria In Chains’ — Shettima Declares At Meeting With Tinubu’s Tax Reform Committee

Vice President Kashim Shettima declared Monday that Nigeria has been “chained” by poor governance and urgently requires a comprehensive roadmap that can revive its economy while taking current realities into account.

The VP told members of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms that the nation awaits their recommendations to swiftly bring her out of the “big mess” it has found itself.

The committee, chaired by Taiwo Oyedele, a former fiscal policy partner and Africa tax leader at PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC), had paid a visit to the Vice President at the State House, Abuja.

During the meeting, Shettima stressed the importance of the committee’s task and expressed his confidence in their ability to construct a robust roadmap that will address the underlying issues within Nigeria’s fiscal and tax policies.

“The task before you is enormous, I believe you have the best brains to come up with a robust roadmap that will reposition our economy addressing some of the fundamental issues underlying our fiscal and tax policies; Fiscal and tax policies are key to the realization of any nation’s economic development.

“I believe you will come up with a roadmap to salvage our nation. We are in a big mess, but I have confidence in your team. This is a great nation chained by poor governance, chained by many challenges and my principal is a man of courage and conviction, he is a progressive man in the Nigerian political space,” Shettima was quoted by his media, Olusola Abiola, as telling the committee.

While noting that the world’s largest economies are grappling with economic challenges, the VP advised Oyedele’s committee to focus on domestic resource solutions to address the nation’s problems.

In response, Zaccheus Adedeji, the Special Adviser to the President on Revenue, expressed the committee’s interest in collaborating with the National Economic Council (NEC), chaired by the Vice President, to foster effective engagement with sub-national governments.

Oyedele, in his remarks, conveyed the committee’s enthusiasm for the opportunity to redefine Nigeria’s fiscal policy framework.

“We are laser focused on our mandate as directed by Mr. President which covers fiscal governance, revenue transformation and fiscal competitiveness and economic growth facilitation,” he said.

Accompanying Chairman Oyedele on the Presidential Committee were Kyari A. Bukar, Tayo Aduloju, Ismaila M. Zakari, Prof. Abiola Sanni, Dr. Chinyere Almona, Abubakar Suleiman, Bamate Ogara-Lawson, Taminu Yakubu, and Muhammad Nami.