By Johnbosco Agbakwuru
ABUJA — The Federal Government on Wednesday said no nation can finance its development on the basis of external dependence alone.
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Taiwo Oyedele, stated this in his remarks at a high-level capacity-building session with chairpersons of state revenue services and the joint revenue board, on the occasion of an experience-exchange visit by the Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia to review Nigeria’s Integrated National Financing Framework (INFF) for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Abuja.
The minister said aid and foreign investment are important complements, but they cannot substitute for the sovereign capacity to generate, manage and deploy public resources effectively.
He said: “Africa faces a significant financing gap in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals and the aspirations of Agenda 2063. Traditional concessional finance is becoming increasingly constrained, while climate pressures and post-pandemic recovery continue to stretch fiscal systems across the continent.
