Abuja – The Federal Ministry of Finance is organising a retreat to facilitate increased revenue generation to finance the 2016 budget by states and the federal governments.
This is contained in a statement made available to newsmen on Tuesday in Abuja by the Ministry’s Director of Finance, Mr Salisu Dambatta.
He said the retreat was scheduled to hold from July 13 to July 15, and would centre on articulating new strategies for prudent application of resources to finance the implementation of various development projects.
The The Nigerian Observer reports that this is coming after the Federal Government had began the disbursement of the N90 billion conditional loan to states.
Thirty-five states, with the exception of Lagos state, applied for the loan and N50 billion has so far been disbursed.
Naínna said experts on revenue generation and administration were invited to contribute in articulating the way forward in revenue generation for Nigeria.
He said eight governors as well as ministers, chief executives of various government revenue-generating agencies and directors of accounts in Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA) were expected to participate at the retreat.
The Governor of Kano State, Dr Umar Ganduje, will deliver the keynote address, while the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, would declare the retreat open.
“Some of the presentations will focus on expanding Nigeria’s revenue base in which strategies and new sources would be discussed.
“Another paper will address non-oil revenue and proffer the way forward for success.
“The extraneous factors that can affect the implementation of the 2016 budget will also be dissected.
“The experts will also speak on continuous audit of independent revenue in the age of change and mechanisms for enhancing Internally Generated Revenue by States through non-tax revenue to finance their budgets,’’ he said.
