Olumide Lawal
The Federal Government has informed wealthy Nigerians to ensure compliance with the tax payment saying that evasion would no longer be tolerated.
Speaking at the colloquium to mark the 65th birthday anniversary of the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, (APC), Bola Tinubu, the minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, lamented that the dwindling revenue has left the government with no option than to turn towards tax administration.
According to her, one of the strategies the President Muhammdu Buhari led administration intended to use in boosting the country’s revenue is through tax mobilization.
She said, “It is a pity that Nigeria has one of the lowest tax regime ratio globally at 6 percent. The only country that is lower than us is Oman. We have so many wealthy entrepreneurs, who have managed to develop habit of not paying tax, we need to correct that.”
“I take this opportunity to reach out to the millionaires, billionaires and trillionaires that you will hear from me soon. It is shame that we are one of the largest owners of crude oil, but we cannot enjoy the revenue from it. Oil has proven that it would be an unreliable source of revenue. The price is unstable,” she added.
Adeosun said economic challenge confronting the country requires multiple strings of revenue, saying, the oil has proved that it would be an unreliable source of revenue. The price is unstable.
She noted recalled that when the administration of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu introduced tax regime in Lagos, he became unpopular, but today, ‘’when we see the infrastructure, I don’t think anyone will blame him for his action.’’
She revealed that the Federal Government was already copying the Lagos template to revive the economy.
According to her, the Federal Government recently released N1trillion for capital expenditure, adding that measures were being taken to bring about multiple streams of revenue.
“The economic template we copied from you (Lagos) is now being implemented for economic recovery of the country and we are not ashamed to say it. The impact of that template is that many of the states are now copying it especially in the area of IGR,” Adeosun said.
