The Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC) has disclosed strategies to peg down Nigeria’s rising public debt which stands at N42trillion,saying they are also out to ensure the over N5trillion debts owned by the 36 states are ameliorated.
The Executive Chairman of FRC and its Director of Policy &Standards,Victor Muruako and Alex Elikwu stated the above during its workshop tagged “Strengthening Fiscal Management at State Level” which held at De Rembrandt Hotel & Suites,Ikeja -Lagos
According to them,debts are not a bad thing but over bloated debts are not in the overall interest of the nation, stressing that is the reason why FRC is working hard to main-stream fiscal responsibility at the sub-nationals.
The event was grace by top dignitaries from the South West :including representatives from banks,CSO’s,House of Assemblies and agencies etc.
As Elikwu stated”The total public debts of Nigeria rose 2.98per cent in the second quarter this year to N42.84 trillion from N39.56 trillion at the end of 2021.Whilst this,the country debt to GDP ratio was 23.06 per cent as at June 30,2022 compared to 22.27 per cent as at 3March this year.
Subnationals owed N5.2trillion with Lagos topping the list of highly indepted states with a figure of N797.3 biillion out of the total sums.He declared that Delta,Ogun and Rivers followed the Lagos with N378.8billion,N241.7billion and N225.5billion respectively.
Professor Peter Ife nd Chris Uwadoka of FRC in their contributions noted the improvements being made by the sub-nationals;but called for the review of extant legislations to boost the fight against corruption.
The duo campaigned for fiscal responsibility to be mainstreamed at the grassroots as a way of ensuring the sustainabilty of the results of the States Fiscal Transparency and Accontability (SFTA) programme of the World Bank which ends this December.
Uwadoka however urged the powers that be to extent the World Bank programme by 6 months in the interest of the country.
Advertisement
