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Nigeria’s low revenue hampering human capital development – Economist
A Senior Economist with the World Bank, Yue Man Lee, said on Saturday that Nigeria’s low revenue is restricting the government’s spending on human capital development.
Lee stated this during the unveiling of a report by the BudgiT on state governments’ sustainability in Abuja.
According to her, the fiscal capacity of government at all levels to generate the needed revenue to finance their operations had reduced over the years.
She said: “The broader fiscal challenge that Nigeria faces is low revenue that constrains the budget envelop.
“This, when put in plain terms, is how much revenue that is available to spend on public service and investments in human capital.
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“Nigeria is spending and government spending as a percentage to Gross Domestic Product is way lower than other countries at similar income per capita level. And the reason behind this is because of the exceptionally low revenue that Nigeria collects.”
Lee said that there was a need for the government to come up with measures to boost its revenue, insisting that the country’s revenue to Gross Domestic Product ratio of about eight percent was too low.
She said the low level of government spending on capital projects contributed to low level of development outcomes.
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