ActionAid Nigeria has called on the federal government to adopt the principles of fiscal federalism to deal with the current rise in public debt, unemployment, inflation, and high cost of living in the country.
The call was contained in the statement issued by the General Assembly Members of ActionAid Nigeria, after a virtual meeting to review the State of the Nation on the 25th day of September 2021
implementation of CAADP for food Security in 2025.
According to the organisation , the principles of fiscal federalism if adopted will enable the country to break the vicious cycle of poverty, eliminate the wholesale dependence on oil which makes Nigeria a monolithic economy.
“Adopting the principles of fiscal federalism will be a practical approach to solving the challenges governments at all levels face today, such as the generation and equitable distribution of income, efficient and effective allocation of resources, and economic stability.
“Revenue drive and allocation of resources can be done effectively by states and local governments with strong measures to curtail graft and corruption” the statement said.
On the current security challenges in the country , Actionaid Nigeria , advised the federal government to increase the manpower and welfare of all security agencies and equipping them with modern combat equipment, skills, and training.
“The government must renew our partnership with neighboring countries to enhance intelligence exchange and information sharing that would help in quelling the insurgency and other sundry crimes.
“The state-of-the-art combat Tucano and Alpha jets newly acquired must be deployed immediately to help in further neutralizing the criminal elements with precision and bring the protracted insurgency to an end.
“Contemporary hi-tech security management networking as adopted by advanced countries of the world should be embraced.
“For the effectiveness of the Nigerian police and the tackling of insecurity in the country, there is an urgent need to amend the constitution to allow for states to set up their various police outfits by taking the police off the exclusive legislative list and including same in the concurrent list”
Also on the health situation , the organisation charged the Federal and state governments to explore different models to improve the work environment for medical practitioners.
According to the statement, health insurance must be made mandatory with sound mechanisms to prevent corruption for universal health care coverage, stressing that Government must ensure that, there are more funds to upgrade health care infrastructure, clinical equipment as well as improving the welfare and work climate of medical practitioners to induce job satisfaction.
