By Demola Akinyemi

Ilorin—The Presidential Committee on Review of Tariff and Fiscal Incentives has been mandated to  generate  investment in the productive sector  that would help  create more jobs and make lives more bearable for the masses.

Chairman of the committee and Governor of Kwara state, Dr Bukola Saraki, speaking in an interview with journalists in Ilorin, weekend, explained that the committee according to the directives from President Umaru Musa Yar’ Adua, was to identify those sectors where there are such opportunities and invite the stakeholders to a meeting on the way forward.

Governor Saraki also said arrangements have been concluded for residents in Kwara state to pay their taxes henceforth, so as to sustain and maintain the infrastructure put in place by his administration.

Speaking on the presidential committee, he said: “The committee is taking cognizance of the  global meltdown, the economic recession,  looking at what are the opportunities, and what are the things government needs to do to create direct investment whether foreign or local, how to increase the productive sector, the real productive sector of the economy and how to create jobs.”

Governor Saraki added, “In many countries all over the world there are incentives, either tariffs or fiscal incentives that can assist investment and help the productive sector, particularly in an environment  where we have problem with the infrastructure, bad roads, railway and power, which increase cost of the business. So, for us to be competitive, like any responsible government is to look at what are the areas.”

He said, “Mr. President, has directed that we should look and examine  the ways of stimulating  the productive sector, particularly, this global recession going on. Our target is to pick certain areas where we have comparative advantage as a country or areas where it will create more jobs or areas where government will save foreign exchange on productivity.

“We also intend to look at some of the schemes that had been put up in the past and see what can be done to replicate some or amend some.

“For example, talking about agricultural sector, we have said many times that as a country we have no business continuing to import food. We must be self sufficient, and to do that, what we are asking is that those who are in those sectors, either in the production of rice, what does government need to do as an incentive to make them to be producing more than what they are producing now? In our milk  production, you will realize that only ten percent of the milk that we consume  is produced locally.”