FCT,ABUJA – Vice President Kashim Shet­tima has charged members of the Presidential Commit­tee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms to develop a robust roadmap that will transform the economy of the country.

The vice president gave the charge on Monday when he received in audience members of the committee led by the chairman, Mr. Taiwo Oyedele, at the Pres­idential Villa, Abuja.

According to Vice Pres­ident Shettima, “The task before you is enormous. I believe you have the best brains to come up with a ro­bust roadmap that will repo­sition our economy address­ing some of the fundamental issues underlying our fiscal and tax policies; fiscal and tax policies are key to the realisation of any nation’s economic development.”

Continuing, he said, “I believe you will come up with a roadmap to salvage our nation, we are in a big mess, but I have confidence in your team. This is a great nation chained by poor gov­ernance, chained by many challenges and my principal is a man of courage and con­viction, he is a progressive man in the Nigerian politi­cal space.”

Speaking on the impor­tance of fiscal policy and tax reforms, the vice president noted that it is a potent tool for resource mobilisation and as such, he charged the committee to make recom­mendations that are quick deliverables in view of the nation’s current economic realities.

While assuring them of the National Econom­ic Council’s cooperation, he said, “Our focus should largely dwell on domestic resource mobilisation es­pecially with trends in the world today, even the biggest economies in the world are faced with this reality.”

The vice president opined that fiscal policy and tax re­forms are critical for meet­ing national aspirations and this is also taking glob­al dimensions with global realignment of forces with the emergence of BRICS and current geo-politics.

Vice President Shettima praised the composition of the committee, stating, “I think the composition of this committee bears tes­timony to the seriousness that the president attaches to your mandate. Honest­ly, I am proud of you. I am personally conversant with some of the members of this committee who are men and women of impeccable char­acter, high integrity, commit­ted and patriotic.”

In his remarks, the Spe­cial Adviser to the President on Revenue, Zaccheus Ad­edeji, stated that the Presi­dential Committee would be interested in working with the National Econom­ic Council (NEC) which is chaired by the vice president “to ensure effective collabo­ration with the sub-national governments who are criti­cal stakeholder group in the task before the committee.”

Earlier, Mr. Oyedele dis­closed that members of the committee were “excited for this opportunity to help our country to redefine, re­design a new fiscal policy framework that is fit for our nation to thrive and deliver the Nigeria we want in order for our people to flourish in their endeavours.

“We are focused on our mandate as directed by Mr. President which covers fis­cal governance, revenue transformation and fiscal competitiveness and eco­nomic growth facilitation.”

He assured that the com­mittee would engage with Nigerians both at home and abroad as well as with all segments of the society.

Also, he expressed the readiness of the committee to engage with sub-national governments through NEC in achieving the mandate of the committee.

In the delegation of the Presidential Committee were Kyari A. Bukar, Tayo Aduloju, Ismaila M. Za­kari, Prof. Abiola Sanni, Dr. Chinyere Almona, Aubakar Suleiman, Bamate Oga­ra-Lawson, Taminu Yakubu and Muhammad Nami.