Don advocates review of fiscal federalism in Nigeria

A Professor of Economics, Israel Taiwo of the University of Ilorin, has advised the Federal Government to review the fiscal federalism in certain aspects with a view to decentralis and make it more viable

Taiwo made the call in his paper presentation at the 194th Inaugural Lecture of the university, entitled: “Economic policy reset for Nigeria: a perspective”.

The don, who teaches in the Faculty of Social Sciences of the university, stated that the review should cover the legal and institutional framework for the allocation of expenditure responsibilities.

He also explained that the review should include taxing powers, allocation of centrally collected revenue to the three tiers of government and coordination of the expenditure responsibilities of the three tiers.

“Improvement in the fiscal federalism arrangements would enhance public service delivery, promote efficient allocation of resources and strengthen the accountability system in terms of how public funds are utilised.

“In order to fine-tune fiscal federalism arrangements in Nigeria, the Federal Government in collaboration with state governments should adopt human capital development policy.

“They should also mitigate fiscal inequalities across jurisdiction and adopt at federal level, an expenditure model that enables the Federal Government to collaborate deeply with the state governments, like development partners do, for the provision of basic services at the subnational level,” he said.

The expert in Economics observed that the prospects of Nigerian economy are lukewarm in the medium-term based on projections made by several organisationsincluding the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

He stated that: “The size of Nigerian economy would increase only marginally in the medium-term.

“Real GDP growth would average 2.6 per cent during 2020 to 2024, compared to 4.8 per cent in emerging market and developing economies and about 4 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa.”

According to Taiwo, there is need to also review Public Financial Management (PFM) to make the system open, orderly and capable of delivering public goods and services, as well as review of wage policy, debt policy and cost of borrowing policy, among others.

He therefore advised the Federal Government to adopt an expenditure model that enables the government to collaborate deeply with state governmente for the provision of basic services at the substantial level. (NAN)