By Miriam Humbe, Abuja
Chairman of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Muhammadu Shehu has said that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country did not come from natural resources but through taxes from the Federal Inland Revenue Service, (FIRS), among others.
For this reason, the RMAFC Boss advised that it was critical for Nigeria to “diversify or sink”.
She said this on Wednesday, when he spoke as Chairman of the occassion at the 1st Economic Confidential Public Lecture and Book presentation of the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami in Abuja.
He said that diversification was key in achieving economic growth.
He called for diversification in all levels of government for sustainable economic development.
Host of the occasion, Prof. Isah Pantami said that technology, especially digital was deployed globally for economic diversification.
Themed: “Economic Diversification in an Evolving Cashless Society”, he said that countries that excelled in technology were leading globally in economic growth.
Pantami said such countries had diversified their economies through knowledge based economy.
”The economy of the world today does not depend on natural resources; countries are leveraging on their natural resources to build their knowledge based economy.
Pantani said: “Digital technology and digital economy are both knowledge based, particularly the trajectory of the first, third and fourth industrial revolutions”.
Deputy Director, ICT in the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN) Muhammed Musa spoke on eNiara.
He described the eNiara as a legal tender meant to help deal with the challenges of cash transactions.
Musa said cash could facilitate illicit activities such as kidnapping and robbery amongst others.
He said that it was in respect to this that the CBN came out with the eNaira initiative.
He said: “The eNiara, which is digital, was not meant to replace the Niara but to help in day to day activities and to also achieve financial inclusion”.
