BY CHARLES KUMOLU

THE Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Mr. Femi  Gbajabiamila, has said that for the diversification of  Nigeria’s oil dependent economy to become a reality, the federating states must be granted unrestricted financial and political autonomy.
He also called on the Federal Government to embrace taxation as an alternative source of revenue, adding that countries that had no natural resources survive on taxation.

Gbajabiamila said this, yesterday, in Lagos, at a public lecture entitled: ‘Nigeria Beyond Petrodollar: A Realistic Perspective,’ organised by the Good Governance Group, otherwise known as the January 9 Collective, J9C, in commemoration of the second anniversary of the 2011 nation-wide strike against fuel price increment.
His words: ’’Before the discovery of oil, other things sustained us as a nation but oil changed everything. There are efforts at diversifying the economy through agriculture.

“That is why in the last three budget cycles, the House gave priority to agriculture. We are even ready to support anything budgeted for agriculture.
“Oil revenue accounts for eight trillion annually, while taxation accounts for five trillion. If we could generate such an amount from tax, I believe we can achieve more through taxation because countries that are not blessed with mineral resources, survive on tax.

‘’We cannot be talking about diversification without restructuring. The country needs to embrace true federalism because what we have now in the name of federalism is a unitary system. The states need to be autonomous for them to be able to diversify.