Before the 2015 general elec­tion, the state of our national economy had already shown great symptoms of weakness and im­minent collapse; but for the coming of the All Progressives Congress fed­eral government. There is no doubt that the Nigerian economy is go­ing through tough times even un­der the President Buhari’s nearly one year administration. The reasons for this depressed and repressed econo­my are the wasteful and rascally use of public resources; lack of prudent management and the inability of our successive leaders and rulers to save some of our hard earned resources for the rainy day. We had lived for the major part of our national eco­nomic life over the years as if there would be no tomorrow. Now, the to­morrow is here and we have been caught economically napping due to our long period of national prodigal lifestyle based on economic rudder­lessness.

Most people in Nigeria today are lacking resources for their basic needs, the unemployment rates have skyrocketed and Nigeria is not doing well almost in all economic funda­mentals. The exchange rate is high, interest rate is harsh, our foreign reserves are not comfortable, and the security situation of our coun­try does not promote foreign direct investments amidst infrastructur­al deficit. The social sectors cannot support development because the educational systems do no longer build competent and qualified man­power for the economy; the health sector lacks the capacity to deliver quality health-care; water and san­itation situation in the country is promoting the growth of urban and rural slums in the face of food inse­curity. Therefore, greater mass pov­erty is looming if drastic economic measures are not taken.

The urgency and capacity needed to take drastic economic measures to rescue our economy is what makes the Buhari Presidency and adminis­tration an imperative. On the spot of his inauguration, he brought a new and rewarding strategy for tackling BOKO HARAM insurgency by the relocation of the command head­quarters and structure of the mili­tary to the seat of BOKO HARAM in Maiduguri. The probe of the military procurement relevant to the fight against terrorism has unearthed mind–boggling corruption beyond the imagination of the Nigerian peo­ple and world community. Buhari’s will to implementing the Treasury Single Account (TSA) is a fiscal poli­cy tool that have boosted public rev­enue and checked corruption.

The convening of the National Economic Council Retreat by the President Buhari administration is a step further in the administration’s continued effort towards redirecting our national economy. The theme of the retreat which considered the Ni­gerian States as multiple centres of prosperity is very apt to the urgent need to convert the thirty–six State capitals as not only centres of polit­ical brigandage and demagogy to hubs of economic revival and devel­opment. Over the years, our struc­ture of federalism does not promote independent economic actions and creativity because of the availability of oil revenue for sharing. This has limited original economic thinking on the part of most of the thirty –six states in the country. It is high time these states re-engineered econom­ically from centres of consumption to centres of economic prosperity. This government is working in that direction.

It is noteworthy that agreements were reached at the event coordinat­ed by the Office of the Vice-Presi­dent and Presided over by Vice-President Yemi Osibanjo with most Governors and Deputy Governors in attendance; for concerted and consistent efforts to diversify reve­nue sources; expand compliance on VAT, adopting a gradual plan for rate increase; increase expenditure through borrowing, which should be invested in infrastructure.

It was also agreed upon that Fed­eral and State Governments should focus on fiscal responsibility as a critical element in macro-econom­ic balance; increase investment in in­frastructure through public private partnership (PPP); develop financial inclusion strategies to cater for the poor and vulnerable population; and maintain a minimum level of capital expenditure of 30% in the budget.

In the agricultural sector, gov­ernment has decided to re-position Bank of Agriculture to enhance its capacity to finance agriculture. Na­tional targets for self-sufficiency have been set for identified crops, which should be monitored. Toma­to paste – 2016, Rice – 2018, Wheat – 2019.

In the area of solid minerals; the Ministry of Solid Minerals Develop­ment is to complete and present the solid minerals development road­map. This framework is meant to ad­dress issues of illegal mining, licens­es, taxes and royalties by 31st March 2016. The ministry is also to agree with states and local government on respective responsibilities for devel­oping feeder roads and other criti­cal infrastructure for solid minerals development and to set deadlines to achieve self-sufficiency in Bitumen/Asphalt and tiles (to discourage/stop importation)

In Trade and Investment sector, States are to collaborate more active­ly on regional basis on investments and industrialization. The Feder­al Government will work with the States and other stakeholders to create an enabling environment for trade and investment through the implementation of the Nigerian In­dustrial Revolution Plan (NIRP) to encourage industrialization; make environment conducive for the Mi­cro, Small & Medium Enterprises to create jobs for the unemployed and undertake deliberate policies to cre­ate access to funds. While States and Federal Governments must empha­size the patronage of “Made in Nige­ria” products. “Import competition” rather than “import substitution” should be emphasized.

At the NEC Retreat, there was an agreement on the urgent need to develop and invest in our peo­ple. Federal and State Governments are now to work collaboratively to ensure sustainability of the school feeding and other social protection programmes; and to ensure co-op­eration from the States’ Ministries of Education and State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEBs) for the Teacher Corp Program. Federal gov­ernment will provide logistics sup­port on the proposed upgrade of 75 existing National Directorate of Em­ployment (NDE) facilities (across the various States) to Empower­ment Centers Cooperation and co­ordination with the States on their specific job creation efforts. State Governments are to support arti­san training, scoping and support for existing artisan cultures and use of existing training facilities. It be­came imperative to Institutionalize a single register as a platform for tar­geting the authentic poorest and vul­nerable for safety net programs; for government, donor agency, organi­zations or individuals.

The Buhari administration is fully aware of the challenges of insecuri­ty, infrastructural renewal, econom­ic development and job creation fac­ing his government. There is also ample evidence to support govern­ment’s appreciation that without enough resources very little of his good intentions will be implement­ed. This certainly, confirms the em­phasis on revenue generation which took a critical position at the Nation­al Economic Council Retreat.

The council agreed to make de­liberate effort to generate relevant data on the respective economies of the states and the nation general­ly in order to drive revenue genera­tion. Federal Inland Revenue Service and States Inland Revenue Services need to invest in relevant technolo­gy to support efforts to improve tax collection. There is a need to devel­op incentive schemes for federal and state revenue generating agencies ; FIRS and SIRS need to actively col­laborate on initiatives to improve tax collection, including joint audits of major corporate tax payers; all state governments are encouraged to es­tablish efficiency units to review/en­hance the quality of expenditure as well as plug revenue leakages ;focus on property and consumption tax­es will help in improving revenues in a fair manner and to promote tax-payer education to expand the tax base and avoid political back-lash from intensifying tax collection.

The All Progressives Congress’s (APC) Federal government of Nige­ria and the CHANGE Agenda was accepted by the Nigerian people through the ballot in 2015 because of the promise to fight corruption, end the BOKO HARAM insurgency and chart the course of economic reviv­al to ensure employment generation and reduce poverty. These are diffi­cult tasks that cannot be tackled suc­cessfully within the context of fall­ing national revenue on a short term.

The administration therefore is laying foundation for economic re­vival and national re-orientation on a long term sustainable basis, which had been lacking before.

It calls for the support of all and sundry for the purposes of better life for our people irrespective of political party, ethnic and religious affiliations. As the former Minis­ter of Finance and the Coordinat­ing Minister for the Economy, Ngo­zi Okonjo-Iweala used to say: we may have 36 states plus the Federal Capital Territory and 774 local gov­ernment areas; but we have and will have only one economy. So, as one people, there is need to support the economic recovery effort of our na­tion to put our people back to work and on the part of economic pros­perity once again.

Ugo Jim-Nwoko is a develop­ment and budget policy analyst and writes from 342 Segun oluwa Street Utako Abuja.