Zacch Adedeji: Tinubu believes in fiscal discipline — he’ll make every kobo count

Zacch Adedeji, special adviser to President Bola Tinubu on revenue, says the current administration will ensure that every kobo of the nation’s revenue counts.

Adedeji spoke at a one-day workshop on illicit financial flows (IFFs) in Abuja on Thursday.

The workshop, organised by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), was on the published ‘Guidelines for Private Sector Response to Illicit Financial Flow (IFF) Vulnerabilities in Nigeria’.

Adedeji said the president believed in fiscal discipline and would ensure judicious utilisation of the country’s revenue and resources.

“The administration of Tinubu will make every kobo of our revenue count,” he said.

“The president believes in fiscal discipline which rests on the accurate prediction of revenue. If the government can’t count your money, the government can’t allocate it and if the government can’t allocate it, it can’t manage it.”

Adedeji said the government would strengthen the country’s fight against IFFs.

He said the IFFs had significantly eroded domestic revenues and hampered the government’s efforts to mobilise resources, thereby threatening economic stability and sustainable development.

“In Nigeria and across the African continent, we continue to suffer various forms of IFFs, including tax evasion and other harmful tax practices, and the illegal export of foreign exchange,” he added.

“It has also led to abusive transfer pricing, trade mispricing, mis-invoicing of services, illegal exploitation and under-invoicing of natural resources, organised crimes, and corruption.”

The special adviser stressed that preventing illicit financial flows would address its negative impact on the global development agenda as well as governance challenges.

In addition, he commended the anti-corruption agency for the successes recorded so far in the fight against IFFs.

“Some level of progress and successes have so far been recorded in the fight against IFFs through the concerted efforts of the ICPC’s sensitisation and capacity building of major players in the various sectors of the economy as well as citizenry, on the menace of IFFs,” Adedeji said.

“These efforts have yielded great results and benefits as the nation, through these robust engagements, has identified leakages/loopholes that enable IFFs by the relevant circulars issued by the federal government.”

Adedeji also advised the private sector stakeholders and operators at the sensitisation workshop to key into the government’s efforts to tackle IFFs.

‘IFFS DRAIN NIGERIA’S REVENUE, FOREX RESERVES’

In his remarks, Bolaji Owasanoye, ICPC chairman, said IFFs were a drain on Nigeria’s potential revenue accretion and foreign exchange reserves.

This, he said, has resulted in exchange rate depreciation, inflation, and an increase in the cost of servicing external debts.

Owasanoye added that “IFFs have negatively impacted the cost of imported goods like petroleum with its attendant radical consequences on daily livelihood experience of ordinary citizens”.

Speaking on the way out, the ICPC boss called for diverse measures to tackle the menace in all its forms.

This, he said, would help improve Nigeria’s quest for domestic revenue increase, in spite of the volatile global economic and financial system.

“The commission would continue to focus attention on practical measures to enhance Nigeria’s ability to stem IFFs,” he said.

“We will also ensure reduced capital flight and enhance the country’s capacity for domestic resource mobilisation by identifying vulnerabilities and other weaknesses in the systems and processes of agencies and institutions within the public and private sector and advising reforms to mitigate losses.”