Barbara Bako, Abuja.
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, says Nigeria aims to attract $20 billion in investments by 2027 to achieve its economic goals.
Mr. Edun said this on Friday at the citizen and stakeholders engagement on the implementation of the presidential priorities and ministerial deliverables for the fourth quarter 2024 held in Abuja.
The Minister emphasised the investment’s importance in promoting economic expansion and enabling infrastructure development, highlighting its urgency.
He says that in order to grow the economy by an average of 6.3 percent over the medium term, an extra $20 billion is needed.
“We need significantly more growth,” Edun stated. “An additional $20 billion is the target we need for social infrastructure to facilitate logistics for agriculture.”
The minister pointed out that the government would rely primarily on increased revenue to meet this ambitious target.
He stressed the need for a robust tax revenue framework to secure the necessary funding, underscoring that sustainable economic growth hinges on this strategy.
“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 explained.
Edun also linked fiscal discipline and exchange rate stability to Nigeria’s ability to attract foreign investment.
He noted that controlling the fiscal deficit and ensuring a stable exchange rate would boost investor confidence, leading to more business activity in the country and increased tax revenue from those investments.
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“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 said.
During her welcome remarks, the Minister of State for Finance Dr. Doris Uzoka-Anite commended the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and The Nigerian Custom Service for Surpassing their respective targets
She said, “The two major revenue generating agencies under the supervision of the ministry, namely the Federal Inland Revenue Service and the Nigerian Customs Service, have done extremely well by surpassing their respective targets in the second and third quarters of 2024 firs was assigned a quarterly revenue target of 4.8 trillion Naira, both in Q2 and Q3 2024 and was able to generate 5.4 3 trillion Naira and 6.4 3 trillion in Q2 and Q3 respectively.”
“On the other hand, the Nigeria Customs Service had a revenue target of 1.27 trillion and 1.3 trillion in Q2 and Q3 respectively, and has also been able to generate 1.39 trillion and 1.57 trillion respectively,” she said.
