The Senate on Wednesday confirmed the appointment of Prof. Taiwo Oyedele as Minister of State for Finance.
His confirmation followed nearly three hours of rigorous questioning by senators across party lines on economic and financial matters.
In response to questions, Oyedele proposed that crude sales could help insulate the economy, stabilise government revenues, and provide more predictable fuel pricing for citizens.
According to him, by locking in prices for a portion of Nigeria’s crude production, the government could guarantee budget financing and reduce the impact of sudden international oil price swings.
“One strategy used in several countries is selling crude forward. Nigeria can lock in a price for a portion of our crude for a period of time.
“That would guarantee budget financing and also give Nigerians stability, so prices are not fluctuating the way we have seen in recent days,” he said.
On the non-payment of contractors due to limited revenue, Oyedele advocated for awarding contracts according to available funds to prevent a “trust deficit premium.”
He explained that such a premium means that a contract initially costing N1 billion could rise to N2 billion to cover losses caused by delayed government payments.
Addressing Nigeria’s revenue base, Oyedele noted that too much focus had historically been placed on taxation and oil revenues, while other sectors, such as mining, hold significant potential.
“For many years as a country, we have disproportionately focused on taxation and oil and gas, and that has taken our attention away from other areas where we can generate revenue,” he said.
He added, “What we have identified as the biggest impediment to the growth of the solid minerals sector is policy uncertainty.
“The team and the Minister for Solid Minerals have been doing a lot, but we need to complement that with a policy certainty environment. We may be coming to the National Assembly in this regard.”
Oyedele stressed the need for realistic budgeting and proper execution of approved projects.
“When we have budgets, we need to ensure that there is funding behind them and that there are releases so that we can execute them 100 per cent if possible — particularly for capital expenditure.
“Looking at Nigeria’s budgets over the past five years, many appeared too ambitious compared to the revenue.
“We were focusing on expenditure without paying enough attention to the revenue side,” he said.
He also highlighted that nearly half of Nigeria’s budgets were currently deficit-financed.
“Today, if you combine the federal and state governments, nearly half of our budgets are deficit-financed. We need to pay more attention to realistic revenue to drive our projects,” Oyedele said.
He emphasised the need for prudent government spending to address inflationary pressures and ensure that revenues from subsidy removal directly benefit Nigerians.
“If the government gets more revenue because subsidy has been removed, it is actually a transfer from the people to the government.
“The only way we can make that sacrifice worthwhile is to spend that money in areas of priority for the people,” he said.
Oyedele also expressed confidence that investments in infrastructure linking farms to markets could deliver rapid economic benefits.
“Those priorities can be as basic as roads from the farm to the warehouse, to the factory, and to the markets. When that happens, people see the impact almost immediately,” he said.
In his remarks following Oyedele’s confirmation, Senate President Godswill Akpabio commended President Bola Tinubu for appointing Oyedele describing him as having expertise and suitable for the role.
Source: NAN
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