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B N W: Biafra Nigeria World News |
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Good leadership, reforms crucial to stable polity, says Atiku
THE Federal Government is determined to entrench good leadership and ensure the successful implementation of the present economic reform agenda towards a sound and stable macroeconomic environment and a predictable fiscal policy, Vice President Atiku Abubakar said yesterday.
He spoke in Abuja when the outgoing members of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) led by its Chairman, Hamman Adama Tukur, in company of all the federal commissioners presented him with the report of the concluded national seminar on diversification of the Nigerian economy.
Atiku said: "Gone were the days when reports and recommendations of seminars and workshops on national issues were made without implementation."
He, therefore, assured members of the commission that the report submitted would be given adequate attention.
"This administration would see to the implementation and sustenance of the reforms indicated in the reports," he said.
Atiku lauded members of the commission on the responsible manner it handled its mandate, adding that the members have "justified the confidence reposed on them by the timely completion of this important assignment."
He said the commission has performed creditably well because the report was far-reaching and very purposeful. He assured members that he would personally forward the report to Mr. President with his recommendations.
Earlier, Tukur said the recommendations proffered in the report was in accordance with section 32 c part 1 of the third schedule of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which has vested the commission with the responsibility to "advise federal and state governments on fiscal efficiency and ways by which their revenue can be increased" adding that this was why the commission constantly reviews the "current economic realities of the country with the aim of determining their significance for resource mobilisation and general economic developments."
He explained that the report was the culmination of the ideas generated through the seminar on the diversification of the Nigerian economy held in Abuja in March 2004, and the various reviews sessions with the World Bank, Nigeria Export Promotion Council, the National Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, and the Raw Materials Development Council.
He said the report identified among others, some fundamental problems like fiscal indiscipline at all levels of government, fraud, corruption, dishonesty and lack of transparency as having negative consequences over proper economic growth and diversification of the Nigerian economy.
He said with the country's abundance of resources, the problem of processing and utilising the available local raw materials that is a critical factor in the sustenance of industrial growth remains a big challenge. According to him, "this is why the commission has highlighted suggestions and mode of implementation which could compete with the recently published programme on NEEDS."
He thanked the vice president for his support and called on government to consider the report as the contribution of members of the commission to compliment the efforts of the present administration in building a strong economy for the nation.
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