Nigerian Governors’Forum (NGF), says insecurity and currency depreciation is affecting the business environment and consequently, productivity and income to be taxed.
Olanrewaju Ajogbasile, the Senior Programme Mantger at the NGF Secretariat, who spoke at a one-day capacity building for members of Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN) in Abuja,also said that lack of trust between the government and the citizens continues to be a drawback to tax collection in Nigeria.
He spoke on the theme: New Approaches to Tax Administration in States”.
He said the development has made tax collection difficult as many are unwilling to pay because they do not trust their as their monies will be used judiciously.
He added that perceived weak social contract between citizens and the government continues to threaten legitimacy of taxation.
He said:”With Nigeria still recovering from a combination of adverse fiscal and macroeconomic conditions that had exerted strong pressures on the fiscal sustainability of its national and sub-national governments, leading to low revenue generation.
He also said that worsening insecurity and currency depreciation has affected the business environment and consequently, productivity and income to be taxed.
He further added that “lack of standard operating procedures and processes guiding operations of SIRSs and their zonal/area offices; proliferation of private contractors/consultants for same revenue items; and weak collaboration between State and local governments on joint collections, among others”
To address this imbalance, Ajogbasile said several reforms have been introduced by national and sub-national governments, which have been yielding results.
