Your Revenue is Not Too Low, Your Costs are Too High - THISDAYLIVE

“No man is rich, whose expenditure exceeds his means; and no one is poor whose Incomings exceed his outgoings” Thomas Chandler Haliburton

At the inception of the 3rd Republic in 1999, Nigeria had a huge debt overhang. With deft diplomacy and creative financial engineering, we got out of the debt chokehold. It was such a big achievement as it gave the economy the leeway to attract foreign direct investment and funding that were badly needed for infrastructure development. Those good days seem like a century away, and sadly we seem to have arrived at the debt crossroad once again.

Conventional wisdom says that given that there are two sides to a budget, namely, revenue and expenditure; the latter should naturally be dependent on the former. It should logically follow that a lot of attention should be paid to the revenue side of the budget, which should determine the expenditure level.

This factor above also applies to the national budget. The proposed budget size of N10.33 trillion which translates to about $34b, means that the share that accrues to an average Nigerian, is just about $170 or N52,000 for next year. Compare this with South Africa’s 2019 budget of $125b with per Capita budget of $2155. This is a humbling realisation! So next time you are comparing yourself with other countries, you should be comparing apples with apples and not with things that look like apples.

The next item should be lumped under the heading of ‘avoidable expenses’. The 2019 budget provided for N305b for subsidy on petroleum. We are aware that the figure is more like double this amount. According to the NNPC, we spent over N650b in the one year from April 2018 to March 2019 under what the corporation refers to as “under recovery” which means unappropriated subsidy payments. Some analysts have argued that the number is closer to N1trillion.

Nigeria Latest News, Nigeria Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

The $2.5b World Bank loan is unnecessary | The Guardian Nigeria News - Nigeria and World NewsNigeria overflows with revenue sources ready to be utilised for national development. But they are incompletely collected or left untapped Same thing as it all involves huge money repayment.
Source: GuardianNigeria - 🏆 1. / 94 Read more »

'I am sorry', American transgender comedienne says before suicideNigeria News - An American transgender comedienne, Daphne Dorman was reported on Sunday to have committed suicide after posting 'I'm sorry' on Facebook. vanguardngr Ahh bobrisky come and see o vanguardngr She was apparently tired of the fake life she was living. vanguardngr Hmmmm!
Source: vanguardngrnews - 🏆 5. / 75 Read more »

The Deceitfulness of Riches, By Femi Aribisala - Premium Times OpinionThe Lord said to Martins: “You don’t need any money. I am all you need!”
Source: PremiumTimesng - 🏆 3. / 78 Read more »

Finance Minister Breaks Down Proposed 2020 Budget, Puts Total Revenue At N8.15trnFinance Minister Breaks Down Proposed 2020 Budget, Puts Total Revenue At N8.15trn
Source: channelstv - 🏆 7. / 63 Read more »

Senate to partner FRC to block revenue leakages - The Nation NewspaperTHE Senate has promised to work with the Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC) to block revenue leakages and misuse of funds
Source: TheNationNews - 🏆 6. / 69 Read more »

FG unveils projects to stop petroleum revenue leakagesTHE Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr.Timipre Sylva , has launched Operation White Project which is aimed at offering core benefits
Source: TheNationNews - 🏆 6. / 69 Read more »