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By Steve Agbota
Tax experts have urged the Federal Government to collaborate with the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN) to build sustainable tax system in the country.
The stakeholders stated this at the Institute’s 40th Anniversary Dinner, with the theme: ”Evolution of Taxation as a Profession in Nigeria: The Birth of CITN,” held at the weekend in Lagos.
Speaking at the event, one of the founders of the Institute, Mrs. Morenike Babington-Ashaye, called for more collaboration between the Federal Government and CITN.
According to her, the government should put CITN into more use by ensuring that the institute is always at the forefront of all issues relating to taxation practice in the country.
She said that CITN was well-positioned to carry out extensive research concerning all expenditures, finance bills, and budget finances before its execution, adding that on no condition should the government involve any external body to handle issues relating to budgetary/taxation.
“Taxation is an agent of change; it can be used to control the circulation and inflow of income/possessions among Nigerian citizens. Today, I feel so fulfilled because when we started the institute 40 years ago, no one could have dreamt that it could grow to this height.
”So, we are grateful to all who have contributed to this success. Those who have worked, those still working, and those to work in the future. But, we still need to do more,” she said.
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She explained that, at the moment, the government still spends a lot of money on invisible activities, hiring foreign bodies like International Monetary Fund (IMF) or World Bank to come to the nation’s aid on issues of taxation/budget, whereas the CITIN is here.
“Let the government at all levels, organisations and individuals make good use of CITN. You can use taxation to discipline people, there are a lot of people that are in possession of resources, wealth and property that their sources are not known,” she said.
Meanwhile, the CITN President, Mr. Adesina Adedayo, commended everyone, particularly the founding fathers of the institute, its past presidents, sponsors, staff, and all who had contributed in one way or the other towards the success of CITN.
“We have a CITN of yesterday and you will agree with me, yesterday was a leap in the dark and the people were bold enough to take that leap. They were 13 and led by the Doyen of our institute. 40 years ago, nobody would have been in the position to say we would be history today and they had that belief with hope, with conviction, with assurance of the future and they started it 40 years ago,” he said.
He said that CITN became a name that is tested and trusted, an institute that is resilience, innovative and dynamic, saying that it has become a collective institute and intergenerational institute that is the collective dream of the founding fathers.
“CITN is an organised nature; we call it organisation. It is a nature where we have economists, the lawyers and the accountants who have agreed to come together, and this is organised for the purpose of efficient service delivery.
“We have to be mindful that these people came together to form a profession and said, look, we want to have a tax profession and I’m happy today, this profession has increased in strength in terms of its ability to meet the demand of the nation.
“I must confess that it has been a groundswell of positive emotions and excitement across the length and breadth of the country in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Institute. May the God that made it a success for us this 40 years, continue to see us through for the next 40 years and beyond,” he added.
