Setting agenda for the Minister for finance, Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed

By Omogbolahan Babs

There is overtly no room for rhetoric. The substantive Minister for Finance, Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed is no greenhorn or tyro in the terrain. Having worked as the Executive Secretary (Administrative Head) of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiatives (NEITI) and the Minister of State for Finance under the ascendancy of the hitherto financial maestro, Kemi Adeosun and subsequently as the minister designate after the former was blackmailed out of President Buhari's cabinet in the first term; she is very much acquainted with her mandate. Her job is well cut out for her. She should therefore be thankful to Mr. President for returning her to same ministry she already had full grasp of.

THE RED FLAG!

Having said the above, the new minister should know that her portfolio at this crucial time comes with a whole lot of responsibilities. This is President Buhari's second and last term. She cannot afford to disappoint Nigerians on the policies she is likely to introduce to stimulate the economy. The new minister must come to the stark reality that, albeit Nigeria had exited recession, the economy is still largely fragile as a corollary years of policy somersault and needless bureaucracies. It is paramount that guiding against reckless spending is a key component of her mandate. Otherwise, Nigeria may find herself relapsing into recession. And this time around, its effect will be more devastating. It is therefore fundamentally germane that she is frugal and close-fisted in spending.

REVENUE GENERATION

HM Zainab Ahmed needs to expand the capture net of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy in order to access more fund. She must ensure that all monies or funds accruable from all revenue-generation agencies such as the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS), Nigerian Port Authority (NPA),Nigerian Immigration Services (NIS), Nigerian Customs Services (NCS), Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiatives (NEITI), Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) among others are meticulously monitored to ensure adequate remittance of generated revenues. She must work in synergy with anti-graft agencies like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) to achieve optimal result. The civil service is very rotten, always looking for loopholes to shortchange the system. Therefore, civil servants, particularly at the decision-making level must be under close watch and monitoring.

SYNERGY AND CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURES

The Ministry under her prepotence must make efforts at negotiating for reduction in our bilateral and multilateral debts to reduce the amount of funds used to service our debts. The percentage of funds released for capital expenditure must rise and only projects with multiplier effect on the economy should be financed. Stability of the economy cannot be compromised in any form. Her ministry in synergy with other sister ministry like the Trade, Industry and Investment to stabilize price of goods and services. The exchange rate should be controlled properly, while more attention is given to promoting the Nigerian-made goods. We must promote our local content, encourage our producers both in the manufacturing and agricultural sectors. The textile industry has huge potential and this time around, profound policies must be made to revive the comatose textile industry and the hides and skins. Millions of jobs hidden in those untapped sectors.

FDI AND LOCAL CONTENTS

Our local contents generally must be exploited to its full potential. There is need to open up more Medium and Small Scale Enterprises -MSMEs to drive our local content. The organized private sector must be largely involved in the planning, formulation and implementation of government programmes. In other words, there must be a working template that drives the economy's sub-sector. The recent activities on improving critical infrastructures must be consolidated and improved upon. This is a good bait for Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) which will in turn augment the number of job opportunities in the economy.

LEAKAGES

While ensuring that all revenue generated are judiciously spent, the HM must also not be oblivious of the incontrovertible fact that all financial leakages must be blocked. The trust that has eroded the leadership in the last decade must be repaired. All stratagem employed by terrible and dangerous civil servants and their accomplices to fleece government funds via contract fraud, deliberate waste, teeming and lading must be blocked. Distribution of our common patrimony for political patronage must not rare its ugly head as hallmarked previous administrations. A budget deficit to reflate the economy especially huge spendings in the critical sectors of the economy is not a bad attempt. We must encourage exports and de-emphasize imports to strengthen our Naira.

Nigeria has all the potential to rule the world. We can do it, but the journey begins with a step and a sincere leadership which the Buhari-led administration has proven to be a touch-bearer.

Omogbolahan Babs, a Forensic and Criminal Investigative expert writes from Abuja.