Updated: March 7, 2021
The number of Nigerians paying tax has gone from 14 million in 2016 to 19 million in 2018 from the 65 million economically active people in Nigeria who are not tax complaint, the minister of finance Kemi Adeosun disclosed on Thursday.
Mrs. Adeosun has made tax payment a major piece of her aggressive revenue generation drive. She had repeatedly argued that the money was needed to build infrastructure and drive the economy.
Late last year, she gave tax evaders until March 2018 to pay their taxes or be shamed and punished. But with an election next year, President Muhammadu Buhari extended the deadline by a few months.
“By 2019, the growth will be stronger than the present level in 2018. We are optimistic in sustaining Nigeria’s economic growth. That is why we are driving the mobilisation of more revenues.
“We have been able to grow the tax payers’ base to 19 million in two years from the 65 million economically active people who are not tax complaint,” Adeosun said at a meeting with a World Bank Mission of 10 Executive Directors led by Mr. Patrizio Pagano.
The leader of the World Bank Mission to Nigeria, Patrizio Pagano said the team was in the country to acquaint itself with the Government’s growth and power priorities.
“We have met with several Nigerian entrepreneurs and have seen how vibrant the private sector is. We want to understand how the power sector is evolving in Nigeria,” Pagano said.
The World Bank officials had earlier met with the organised private sector in Lagos and undertaken a tour of LAPO Microfinance project in Lagos.
The 10 World Bank’s Executive Directors, representing 96 countries, are expected to inspect the Azura Power Plant in Edo State in the course of their three-day visit to Nigeria.
The visit is expected to provide a first-hand impression of the challenges that both the Federal and State Governments face in implementing development projects as well as ensuring good governance overall.
[/read_more]
[read_more id="2" more="Read full article" less="Read less"]
