Global Meltdown Accounts for Drastic Drop in Federation Allocations

In the wake of the growing global economic crisis, the Federal Government had defended its policy measures saying it was committed to pursuing and implementing human-face policy measures to cushion the effects of the recession on Nigerians and business entities.
Speaking at the opening of the 10th National Council of Finance and Economic Development Conference (NACOFED), Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan, who was represented by Dr. Sullivan Chime, the Enugu State Governor admitted that Nigeria was already affected by the global crisis which, according to him, was responsible for the sharp drop in Federation Account allocations from N435.40 billion in January 2009 to N285.58 billion in February 2009.
According to him, "Several measures are being put in place by the government to cushion the impact of the global recession. The government recently approved N350 billion towards increasing power generation from the present level of 3,000 mega watts to over 6,000 mega watts by the end of this year.
"The government also intends to release over N70 billion to resuscitate the ailing textile industry. These efforts of the Federal Government must be matched by other tiers of government to reduce the impact of the economic crisis”.
The Federal Government listed as its priorities the  building of robust and resilient economy, improving public financial management and enhancing the efficiency of government expenditure. The priorities also include eliminating inefficiencies, corruption, leakages and rent-seeking activities, including the downstream petroleum sector, and diversifying productive structures such as agriculture, small and medium enterprises, gas and solid minerals.
Dr. Mansur Muhtar, Minister of Finance, said the present administration would protect most vulnerable groups through appropriate and targeted social safety nets.
he Minister said that Government would enhance domestic resource mobilization through expanding the non-oil tax base by means of appropriate tax policy and administration, making substantial progress in reforming Customs services and ports, and deepening reforms to tap into the domestic capital market for overall development of the country.
Muhtar stressed that the federal revenue generating Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) would be strengthened to fully disclose their earnings, payments and remittances to the Federation Account, "Let me renew the Federal Government’s commitment to stay ahead of the curve, collaborate with sub-national governments, and do all we can to support growth that will help us weather the global crisis.
We will continue steer the economy through the current global difficulties, while making sure that we don’t waste the opportunities for economic renewal they present. We all have a stake to build competitive and prosperous economies at all levels of government in the country to usher in a new era of economic growth base which citizens deserve for future”.
Mr. Remi  Babalola, the Minister of state for finance assured that concerted efforts are being made to restore confidence in the nation’s financial sector, saying the regulatory agencies in the sector are now required to meet monthly to ensure that they are not working at cross purposes.
He urged banks to focus on their core banking functions rather than compete against one another in a destructive manner.