“The fact remains, if government wants the power sector to succeed, payments have to be made. If the Gencos don’t get enough fund to pay for gas, generation of electricity will crash.”
Browsing: Mrs. Kemi Adeosun
He disclosed the distributable statutory revenue for the month is N387.852 billion while VAT collected for distribution stood at N80.533 billion.
“Our people yearn for prosperity and we must be determined not to fail them and that is why we have ECOWAS Vision 2020 as a clear roadmap towards a better life for all,” Adeosun said.
“According to Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), the total number of taxpayers in Nigeria is just 12,649,654 as at April 2017. Of these, 96 per cent have their taxes deducted at source under PAYE and just four per cent comply with Direct Assessment.”
The minister’s declaration came on the heels of three related events having to do with legal framework, voluntary asset declaration and invitation from a group of international asset tracers to Nigeria, which ran simultaneously.
Noting the progress by government in taxing those in formal employment, he said self-employed persons, professionals and some companies evade full tax payment due to the inability of the tax authorities to assess their true income and assess them accurately.
The Director of Operations at the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, an arm of the World Bank Group, Sarvesh Suri, said a full range of instruments would be deployed to help the government mobilise investments directly from the private sector and through private sector guarantees.
“The plan to be executed jointly by federal and state governments, concentrates on the national duty of all Nigerian companies and citizens to pay their taxes wherever their income is earned, wherever they reside and no matter how rich they are,” she stated.
The Nigerian economy is in the second year of a recession brought on by low oil prices. Crude sales make up two-thirds of national revenue and the government is seeking to boost its income from non-oil sources.
She noted that apart from oil revenue, NNPC had for 67 consecutive months, paid additional N6.33bn into the federation account to be shared among the three tiers of government. The payment commenced in September 2011 after auditing of the accounts of the oil firm showed that it had been under remitting to the federal government.
