Oscarline Onwuemenyi
05 October 2017, Sweetcrude, Abuja – The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Public Service International (PSI) have described tax waivers and holidays granted to multinational companies as an act of injustice and corruption.
The NLC President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, stated while speaking at a Youth Tax Justice training, organised by Public Service International (PSI), that the action of the government is tantamount to stealing from the poor to feed the rich.
Wabba said it is even the poor that need waivers and not the rich. He said, workers around the continent whom he said are the ones who pay the actual tax must change the scenario by demanding for everyone to pay the correct tax
Wabba said unfortunately, the multinational companies and super rich individuals always seek means to evade tax, saying government had also been aiding this act of corruption by granting them waivers.
He said if multinationals pay their correct tax, government will have enough resources at its disposal for infrastructural development.
He said all over the world, multi nationals are known for evading tax, adding while the poor are heavily tax, the rich are given tax waiver.
“Multinational like MTN and many others operating in Nigeria are evading tax. And this is done in collaboration with our government, by granting tax waiver and all sorts of things.
“Our government usually don’t give priority to the issue of tax, may be because of the resources at their disposal. If you look around Africa, there is a lot of resources, like in Nigeria we have oil, in South Africa we have gold and many others. So because of our richness the issue of tax has been relegated to the background”.
In his address, the president, PSI African and Arab countries, Comrade Peters Adeyemi said the PSI decided to involve the youth in the campaign for tax justice because it has to do with their future.
