Hope James
The Nigerian governors have advised the federal government to retire all federal civil servants who are older than 50 years. This they say, will help save the nation from further economic crisis.
The governors also urged the government to raise taxes across boards as well as levy anyone earning N30,000 and above monthly.
The proposal was made at a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in July. The governors were concerned about the deteriorating state of the economy and a proposal to restore fiscal discipline was presented to the federal government.
The governors through the proposal also urged the government to begin implementation of the updated Stephen Oronsaye Report, which suggested merger and shutdown of agencies and parastatals with duplicated or contested functions as a way to address bureaucratic inefficiency and reduce the cost of governance.
According to them, the federal civil service employs just about 89,000 people but will spend about N4.1 trillion on personnel costs this year, from its N17 trillion budget for the entire country. It is not clear how many workers are above 50 years of age, or how much goes to them.
The suggestion comes as indications emerge that the nation may be teetering towards the cliff of economic collapse.
To improve tax revenues, they suggested that the federal government should introduce a flat 3% Federal Personal Income Tax on all Nigerians earning more than N30,000 per month, adding that persons earning less than N30,000 per month whether employed or not, including farmers and traders, should pay a monthly FPIT of N100.
Similarly, telecoms firms and NIMC should collaborate to ensure deduction of this from phone credit of individuals and linking to NIN and BVN.
They suggested that the Federal Government improve crude oil and gas production, resolve lingering issues of ownership of gas in PSCs (eg Nnwa-Doro, OML 129) to help position Nigeria to take advantage of the gas needs in Europe, and provide incentives to expedite development of vandalism-resistant deep offshore fields like Bonga SW (Shell), Preweoi (Total), Zabazaba (ENI) and Owowo (Exxon).
The governors equally advised the government to encourage (and pre-finance, if necessary) Dangote Refinery to early completion to reduce massive future outflows of foreign exchange.