By Henry Uche
Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN) has commenced intensive training on Change Management in Taxation for six senior personnel of Gambia Revenue Authority (GRA).
The five days training which started on Monday in the Commercial hub of Nigeria- Lagos, is aimed to boost the capacity of tax personnel for more effective and efficient tax management and administration in their country- Gambia.
Addressing newsmen in Lagos, the team leader, MaaI SARR, who is a Tax Manager, Domestic Taxes Department of Gambia Revenue Authority, said the Gambia tax system is still being operated manually (analogue) which is unacceptable, while Nigeria has gone far in making use of modern technological tools in its tax management and administration.
“We realize that Nigeria is well advanced in tax administration and fully automated, that is why our Commissioner selected CITN among other Tax Professional institutes and institutions in Africa to train us on Change Management in Taxation, as the world keeps evolving. This is like ‘train the trainer’ program, in other words, we shall train our junior personnel on return. Though another set of personnel from the Authority would be coming to Nigeria for another training in taxation”
He added that the training would help the Gambian Tax Authority to implement full automation of its tax system for efficient utilization of peoples’ taxes. “Our system is still analogue. We don’t want people to lose their job instead we want our personnel to be updated in modern trends in tax administration and management” he maintained.
On his part, the President/ Chairman of Council of CITN, Mr. Samuel Agbeluyi, full of excitement said it was high time Africa continent rose and do better in all fronts of human endeavor in collaboration with one another for greater achievements.
CITN Chief who empathized the need to share knowledge with one another particularly in governance, technology and leadership, revealed that the federal and some state governments of Nigeria have always engaged CITN to lend its expertise on how to strengthen tax system as well as its management and administration as the only institute statutorily empowered in the country to offer such professional services on taxation.
Agbeluyi who assured that CITN would not leave any stone unturned in ensuring that Nigeria feels its impact- tax-wise posited, “Taxation is dynamic. What we know five years ago has changed, thus; we need to change with time. So Gambian Tax Authority has done well by engaging us to train their personnel in Change Management because everything is evolving, they need to meet up with the speed of time to be able to give their citizens the best form of governance they deserve through proper management of their taxes” he added.