The newly elected executive members of the Association of Maritime Journalists of Nigeria (AMJON) paid a courtesy visit to the Executive Chairman of GTA, where we had the opportunity to engage with Dr. Segun Musa.
Dr. Musa, a renowned expert, shared his candid views on Nigeria’s current economic policies, stating that they are “killing the economy, not building it.” In an exclusive interview, Dr. Musa emphasized that taxation is not a viable means of economic development, citing the lack of a clear barometer to measure the effectiveness of these policies.
What we’re doing presently is killing the economy, not building the economy. Dr. Musa said. “If you look at all the existing policies now, they are policies that kill the economy, none of the policies drive and grow the economy.”
He further emphasized the lack of a clear barometer to measure the effectiveness of these policies. “Number two, we don’t have any barometer to measure that the intention of government will actually advance the development of the economy. There’s no barometer to measure it. So we operate on what we call theoretical agenda that is far from reality.
Dr. Musa criticized the government’s reliance on taxation as a means of revenue generation. “You know, when you put something on black and white, and you’re just reading to the public without any action backing it up, it’s just hypothesis that whether it will work or it will not work – trial by error method, if you like. There is no country in the world that developed through taxes. It is only a government that lacks the capacity to think that resorts to taxation because taxing the people is the laziest way to raise revenue.
Dr. Musa’s comments come at a time when Nigeria is facing significant economic challenges, including a recession and a decline in foreign investment. The expert’s critique of the country’s taxation policies highlights the need for a more nuanced approach to economic development.
He also expressed concerns about the Single Window Initiative, which he believes is doomed to fail without a commitment to integrity. “So what we’ve proposed to the government now is to have a committee of the state actors and non-state actors with maximum integrity to superintend over it. And that’s the only way we can convince the international community that we’re serious.”
Dr. Musa stressed the importance of integrity in implementing economic policies. “Because the first thing the international community will do when you are bringing such idea is to check the background of the private sector or agency or ministry or whoever is going to be superintending over it. If there’s a question mark, they will lose interest.”
He noted that the world has advanced beyond rhetoric and requires concrete action. “The world has advanced beyond the day of when you read rhetorics, and you tell people about your stone-white information. Nobody listens to you. It’s not like when you are in a location and you want to be a guest speaker. When you are called upon to come and address the audience as a guest speaker, you see a lot of people, when they announce your name, the first thing everybody will do is just pick their phone, they are not chatting, they are checking your background. If they find anything questionable in your background, they will not even listen to you.
Dr. Musa’s critique of Nigeria’s taxation policies and emphasis on the need for integrity in economic development serve as a call to action for the government to rethink its approach to economic growth.
