Nigeria needs fiscal independence — DG Budget Office

As Nigeria marks her 65th independence anniversary, the Director General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Dr. Tanimu Yakubu, has said that political independence is no longer enough, insisting that what Nigeria needs now is fiscal independence.

Dr. Yakubu, who made this declaration in his Independence Day message to Nigerians, said for too long, Nigeria has lived on borrowed time, borrowed money, and borrowed excuses. “We consumed what we did not produce. We borrowed without discipline. We allowed leakages to drain our commonwealth.”

Commending what he called the bold and courageous reforms of the Bola Tinubu administration, Yakubu said Nigeria is experiencing a new era that promises a blissful future.

He recalled some of the reforms of the present administration, including the removal of the fuel subsidy and the unification of the exchange rates, which he said, though painful, were necessary.

He said, “These reforms were not painless. But they were honest. They were necessary. They were the price of a nation choosing courage over comfort.”

He said it is to prevent future leaders from undoing today’s sacrifices that the government is amending some laws, especially the Fiscal Responsibility Act.“Deficits will now have anchors. Debts will now have ceilings. Every loan must prove its worth in schools built, hospitals equipped, or roads paved. No more borrowing to waste. Only borrowing to build,” he said.

“We are also creating the National Accounts Payables and Receivables Authority (NAPRA), a guardian of liquidity, a sentinel of discipline, ensuring that every naira due to the people is collected, and every debt owed by the government is settled.”