With the rapid increase of the Pandemic Virus hitting the world, Nigeria Federal Government will release N10billion to Lagos State to combat the outbreak of COVID-19 and N1billion as grant to pharmaceutical companies.
The relief funds were announced on Wednesday by the leaders of the National Assembly, Senate President Ahmad Lawan, and the Speaker of the House of Representative, Femi Gbajabiamila.
The two National Assembly leaders led principal officers to a meeting with some ministers, heads of ministries, departments and agencies.
They met yesterday for the review of the 2020 Budget and Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper.
“The impact of COVID-19 is well known to all of us in terms of health and the economy,” the Senate President said.
“Here, we will be talking of revenues that we estimated to fund the budget 2020.
“Because the oil price has gone so low due to the impact of COVID-19, the Minister of State should be able to tell us where we will be in the next six months or so.
“We should have concepts that can deliver fast and are sustainable.
“Anything that we do that cannot provide succour and relief to our people will lead to catastrophe.”
Femi Gbajabiamila in his statement noted that the session enabled the ventilation of ideas on how to save the economy.
“Taking a cursory look at some of the papers (presentations), I think this meeting is actually very timely and very important because we live in a very unusual time and it’s time we start thinking outside the box to see how we can stabilise our economy and the direction it’s going to take, he said.
The Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, in her statement noted that the country’s economy is being hit hard by the crash in the price of crude oil in the international market.
She noted that the price of crude oil was now $22billion as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic ravaging the world.
She further proposed a review of the 2020 budget using $30 per barrel as price benchmark. The FG had proposed $57 per barrel.
She further noted that the anticipated budgeted revenues for the Nigeria Customs Service have been reduced from N1.5trillion to N943billion due to the reduction in trade volumes.
“The Federal Government is working on Fiscal Stimulus Measures to provide fiscal relief for taxpayers and key economic sectors; incentivise employers to retain and recruit staff during the economic downturn; stimulate investment in critical infrastructure; review non-essential tax waivers to optimise revenues, and complement monetary and trade interventions to respond to the crisis,” she said.
She also revealed steps taken by the Federal Government to encourage pharmaceutical manufacturers.
The incentives include provision for health sector interventions by introducing import duty waivers for essential input for pharmaceutical firms; tax waivers on new equipment and deferment of tax to increase production.
The Finance Minister revealed that the FG would release N6.5billion in two tranches to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) as an intervention to assist in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria.
Lagos State being the worst state hit by the pandemic would receive N10billion financial support from the FG.
She also said N1billion would be released to pharmaceutical companies in the country.
In his statement, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, said that the 2020 Budget performance would be decided by the fluctuation in the crude oil price.
“While we would expect to see a decline in our expected growth projection for 2020 relative to 2019, the exact impact will be dependent on how well the coronavirus (COVID-19) is contained over the next few months, and how long low oil prices persist,” he said.
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