From Isaac Anumihe, Abuja
President, Chartered Institute of Nigeria (CITN), Mr Adesina Adedayo, yesterday, said that Nigeria’s tax is below the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries average of 35.5 per cent.
Addressing the 25th Annual Tax Conference in Abuja, the 15th president and chairman in council, regretted that Nigeria has not effectively harnessed its tax potentials to the extent that its tax to Gross Domestic Products (GDP) ratio is considered a serious cause for concern when compared to others within Africa.
It’s for this reason, he suggested, tax experts should seek answers on how to take control of the future with a view to achieving sustainable development in Nigeria through taxation.
According to him, a simple analysis of the socio-economic environment of Nigeria will reveal that there’s a fundamental gap between the nation’s developmental potentials and current realities.
“In the midst of insufficient revenue from crude oil earnings, fluctuating value of naira, rising debt burdens and increasing government’s expenditures, taxation has become the only hope for the nation” he said.
In her remarks, the chairman, Annual Tax Conference Committee, Mrs Ruth Arokoyo noted that the world’s population is growing at a faster rate than the resources available to provide for the growing population.
“Presently, Nigeria’s population is estimated to be about 200 million persons and it is expected to grow to 377 million by 2050. This year’s conference is out to discuss how we can use taxation and economic growth to take care of this projected increase in population” she noted.
In her view, taxation is a fiscal tool of government to generate predictable and stable stream of revenues to finance government spending compared to the unstable nature of the stream of revenue from crude oil while also shaping the environment in which investment, employment and trade takes place. ENDS