National Telescope national telescope newspaper
By Ekpenyong Emmanuel
Nigeria’s Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, has announced that the country needs an investment of $20 billion annually to achieve its economic goals by 2027.
Speaking during the citizens and stakeholders’ engagement on the implementation of presidential priorities and ministerial deliverables for the fourth quarter of 2024, held in Abuja on Friday, Edun emphasized the importance of significant financial commitment to spur economic growth.
“We need significantly more growth. An additional 20 billion dollars is the target we need for social infrastructure to facilitate logistics for agriculture,” he said.
Edun explained that achieving an average economic growth rate of 6.3% in the medium term requires robust financial planning, primarily through increased revenue. He noted that the government plans to rely on a strengthened tax revenue framework to secure the necessary funding.
“To achieve this target and grow the economy, the government can only secure the funds from revenue. Tax revenue needs to be increased to reach the desired levels,” he stated.
The minister also highlighted the importance of managing the fiscal deficit and stabilizing the exchange rate to attract investments and boost tax revenues.
“Once the deficit and exchange rate are under control, it will encourage investors to come and do business in Nigeria. In turn, they will pay their taxes,” Edun added.
He further praised President Bola Tinubu’s “Renewed Hope” agenda, describing it as a significant success.
In her remarks, the Minister of State for Finance, Dr. Doris Uzoka-Anite, explained that the event was part of efforts to ensure the ministry met its objectives.
“The federal ministry of finance, just like every other ministry, has a bilateral engagement with departments and agencies under its supervision to report the ministry’s performance quarterly. Specifically, all the agencies under the ministry have performed very well.
“The two major revenue-generating agencies under the supervision of the ministry are the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and Nigeria Customs Service. They performed above their target, and this is highly commendable,” she said.
