Bennett Oghifo
The federal government is working towards a 77 per cent increase in Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) as a core fund to finance the restoration of the Third Mainland, Eko and Carter bridges in Lagos as well as the construction of the Lagos-Calabar coastal road, the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun has said.
The minister stated this on Wednesday during an inspection of some projects in Lagos and Ogun states, including the Third Mainland and Carter bridges, coordinated by the Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi.
They inspected the ongoing work at the Third Mainland bridge and the beginning of the Lagos-Calabar coastal road. Edun said: “They are doing a very good job, not just designing, but keeping a strong eye on the design of these projects but also the implementation.
“And in addition, they are dragging a hard bargain in terms of the costing. So, kudos to them. But also to their partners, Buildwell, Julius Berger, CCCC, who are doing the Third Mainland Bridge, I think seeing is believing and I have seen very good work so far in terms of the critical repairs that need to be done to the bridges and the protection of the shoreline.
“This includes the fact that the blue line (light rail) is right by the shoreline, so if the shoreline goes, everything above it goes. What we have seen, as they say is, a stitch in time saves nine. So the spending that we necessarily have to do is money well spent.
“It is economical, it is sensible, it is practical, it is the right thing to do and Mr President’s commitment is to get the economy growing again. And one of the key things is infrastructure, mobility, transportation, logistics and when you talk about roads and bridges and highways, we are talking about the basic infrastructure that you need to get the economy growing again.
“So, we have to find the money. We will find the money. There has been a change in the finances of Nigeria. Some of the things that are going to come out as benefits are not yet apparent.
“And quite a lot of the pain are transitioned steps that are being taken but at the end of the day, we can look forward with confidence to a bright future beginning with restoration of economic growth of jobs, of reduction in poverty,” he assured.
He added that the government was reaffirming its priorities in terms of spending, stressing that whatever is done to mobilise the funds will not be misplaced spending.
“You asked us, where would we find the money? The number one place is the changes that were made, the energy that was stopped in terms of the spending that was wasteful, that was only benefiting a small minority in terms of the 2 per cent of GDP that was spent on fuel subsidy.
“That was the number one leakage that was stopped. In addition, we have to encouraged NNPC and all the security forces at the time of high oil prices to push up oil production and oil sales.
“And in-between that, there is a whole range of improvements, digitalisation, computerisation, application of technology and systems to ensure that what is due to the government on behalf of the people of Nigeria is not going into a few pockets, it is coming into the common pockets. A whole number of things, tax measures and so forth,” he noted.
He added: “And I will just end by saying that what we are committing to and we are targeting and working towards is a 77 per cent increase in the internally generated revenue for the federal government, so this is where the funding particularly is going to come from.
“Of course, there are many other sources but that is a core element of where we will find the funding to repair the bridges, to complete the roads including the coastal road,” he disclosed.
