Alarming Rural To Urban Migration Unacceptable – Saraki

BY AMOS DUNIA, ABUJA – President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki has described as alarming and unsustainable the current rate of rural-to-urban migration in the country.

He therefore warned that the that development is not only congesting the cities and stretching resources to breaking point but also undermining the economic viability of some states.

The Senate President said there is no better time for the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration than now to rigorously drive for good working relationship between the Executive and the Legislature, stressing that the early passage of the 2018 budget will depend on this cordial partnership.

Senator Saraki, who spoke on Tuesday at the presentation of 2018 national budget by President Muhammadu Buhari to the Joint Session of the National Assembly, therefore challenged the executive arm of government never to lose sight of the need for equity and balanced development across the country.

He said infrastructural development should be well distributed to create growth pools away from the major city centres and drive regeneration of the rural areas, adding that agriculture is meaningless without those that will engage in farming in the countryside.

“People must be able to see a future for themselves in every corner of this country, not just in the big cities”, he said. The Senate President also challenged the Executive arm of government to take tax revenue as well as independent revenues from State Owned Enterprises more seriously.

Senator Saraki further said that if the budget is to be funded, the government cannot afford to turn a blind eye to revenue under-performance, adding that while there is a need to review extant laws guiding the operation of some Government enterprises, there is the need for a more determined effort on the part of the Executive, to plug leakages.

According to him; “This sector alone accounts for over 40 trillion naira in valuation, of which less than 400 billion naira is remitted as revenue to the Consolidated Federation Account. This is not acceptable. We need to vigorously address this area.” 

The President of the Senate also said that the budgets of parastatals and agencies are meant to be submitted with the budget presentation, as stipulated by the constitution, stressing that both arms of government must work to ensure that the budgets are passed by the end of the year, and sanction those parastatals and agencies that fail to submit their budget along with the 2018 budget, and deny access to capital expenditure unless budget is passed.

Taking a look at the area of increasing independent revenue, Saraki said there is the need to review agreements that government signed with some private sector service providers, saying that many of the agreements are biased, and clearly, not in the interest of the country.

He further said; “We appreciate the need to spend, Mr. President. However, we must ensure that our borrowing is targeted at productive projects that will stimulate the economy. We must ensure real value-for-money in projects funded by borrowing, and make doubly sure that the projects are not overpriced.

“To ensure consistency in government’s economic programmes and tax policies, we will be requiring that the submission of the 2018 Budget – and budget submissions going forward – be accompanied by a Finance Bill.

“This bill – which should clearly detail the imposition, alteration or regulation of taxes such as the proposed tax on luxury items and excise taxes, among others – will put the financial proposals of government into effect. 

“As we are all aware, many businesses were adversely affected by the recession; many lost their means of livelihood. As the country emerges from that period of uncertainty, the question on the lips of many Nigerians has been this: How does the recovery translate into tangible economic benefits for me?

“We must remember that the real gains must be felt on a personal level by the individual, for economic recovery to have meaning. People are seeking to get back to work but cannot find jobs. Entrepreneurs want to restart their businesses but are finding it difficult to access the needed capital. As for our farmers, the last thing they want is for produce to go to waste because people cannot afford to buy. 

“Looking around today, we see that many of our undergraduates are apprehensive about their graduation day; and our National Youth Corps members are not looking forward to the end of the service year, for fear of being tagged ‘unemployed’.”

“While I commend your current efforts at tackling unemployment – especially among the youth through Federal Youth Programmes such as YouWin, N-Power, and YES-Programme – deliberate steps must be taken to make the 2018 budget a job oriented one.”