CIVIL Society Organizations number 23, Tuesday, backed the revenue drive led by the Executive Chairman, Nigeria Revenue Service, NRS, Dr Zacch Adedeji, since he was appointed by President Bola Tinubu as chairman of the former Federal Inland Revenue Service.
The CSOs threw their weight behind the NRS boss after an emergency meeting in Abuja that led to a press conference, where they said the reforms in revenue generation by the Adedeji-led NRS was a lifeline to the sinking Nigerian economy.
The leaders including, Mallam Muss Bello of Centre for Peace, Transparency and Accountability and Chief Mrs Ngozi Okafor of Women’s Rights Advocacy Network, who spoke on behalf of other civil groups said there is stability in the economy as businesses are picking up and stabilizing with a lot of exports ongoing, especially in the non-oil sector where most Nigerians are working hard to add value to their products before export.
They said: “We have deeply assessed the revenue drive led by the Executive Chairman of the Nigeria Revenue Service, Dr Zacch Adedeji, since he was appointed by President Bola Tinubu to spearhead some of the reforms in revenue generation.
“We are really impressed with his performance and impact made so far in terms of revenue generation and we can see the impact these reforms have made on the nation’s economy.
“The impact of the reforms could be seen in government revenue, where the monthly allocations to the three tiers of government had increased substantially since the Tinubu administration came into office as monthly allocations had risen from about N700bn in 2023 to approximately N4.5tn, representing an increase of about 530 per cent.
“This increase had seriously strengthened the finances of state governments, whereby, states’ dependence on federal interventions to meet recurrent obligations had significantly reduced.
“It is also evident to see in states different projects are embarked on, which is indicator of increased allocation, therefore, is an impact beyond the federal government as the case was.
“We have also seen the commitment of the NRS under Adedeji’s leadership had boost investors’ confidence in the Nigerian business environment, especially in the exchange rate, which the previous wide gap between the official and parallel market exchange rates discouraged foreign investment because investors could not accurately determine the value of their returns but today the reforms have helped create a more predictable business environment and enhanced increased for corporate profits, which the government has been able to unify the exchange rates, and it has rased the trust and dependability of investors as far capital flows are concerned.”
The Coalition also said the performance of the reforms by this administration have not left the youth out of its benefits as they are also recipients.
“When you look at the financial sector, the banks had been able to raise about N4.6 trillion following the Central Bank of Nigeria’s directive, with approximately 75 per cent of the funds coming from domestic investors.
“The student loan scheme is another fundamental intervention including the Credit Corps to provide access to finance and education for Nigerians, and most students are enjoying the scheme nas they have access to funds to cater for their educational expenses.
“It is also heartwarming to see over 1 million students in about 300 higher institutions to have received the student loans, which over N303 billion being disbursed in the last three years of this administration”, they said.
Meanwhile, the CSOs shelved their planned protest across the country calling for the sack of the NRS Chairman, Dr Zacch Adedeji, saying they never knew the efforts made by the Tinubu-led administration through the Adedeji-led NRS to rescue Nigeria’s economy from the deep pit of economic woos that would have engulfed the nation and set it on an unending crisis, therefore, expressed their support,band passed vote of confidence on Adedeji’s leadership, and promised to create awareness of the impact of the economic reforms despite it has not gotten to households but with time the families will feel it.
The CSOs include; Leadership Centre for Peace Intercity and Transformation Initiative; Initiative for Advocacy Growth and Economic Advancement; Global Youths Awareness Development; Advocacy Centre for Professional Ethics Values; Anti-corruption Network for Peace Initiative; Centre for Agri-Business Support in Nigeria; Initiative for Transformation of the Under Privileged in Nigeria.
Others are: Environmental Preservation and Sustainable Agriculture Development; Centre for Peace, Transparency and Accountability; African Leadership Strategy and Transparency Development Initiative; Pan-African Society for Social and Economic Change; Network of Advocacy for Positive Impact Initiative; Northern Initiative of Transparency and Social Justice; Community Peace Building and Environmental Sustainability Initiative; Public Accountability Network Initiative; Youth Initiative for Accountability and Integrity; Nigeria Youth Advocacy for Good Governance Initiative.
Ambassador of Sustainable Development Goals and Eco-System Development Initiative; Sustainable Leadership and Empowerment Initiative; Network for Accountability Integrity and Transparency; The Committed Advocates for Positive Change and Impact Initiative; Poverty Alleviation for the Poor Initiative; African Centre for Gender Values and Culture.
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