For three days last week, the Nigerian Governors’ Forum chose Abuja, to concentrate the minds of Nigerians on the desirability of taxation to improve the internally generated revenue of Nigerian states. Either because of the importance of the subject or a very thorough job of PR, the issue got a lot of coverage in the Nigerian press. Up to this week, there continues to be a very lively response in the form of commentaries by leading Nigerian writers on the subject.
Most people have bought into the argument posited by the Governors’ Forum, that there was “the need to rely less on money received from the Federation Account and to instead institute taxes on a variety of things”, as reported by DAILY TRUST of Tuesday, November 17, 2009. Furthermore, the Forum has the intention “to make IGR replace the Federation Account as the states’ main revenue source”.
Very lofty objectives, one might add; and it is the importance of taxation as a source of revenue that has triggered the generally broad support for the idea. Writers also hope that by paying tax, citizens might then become more politically active to hold governors responsible in respect of the expenditure patterns of the various states. Afterall, one of the cardinal backgrounds for the institution of democracy in the advanced capitalist countries was the agitation by the emergent bourgeoisie that taxation must go with representation. A regime which asks citizens to pay taxes must also be responsible in terms of the way it deploys those revenues. Unfortunately, many of the governors asking for taxation as a platform for Internally Generated Revenue or IGR have been guilty of a lack of respect for the people of our various states in ways that they make expenditure; but we will come back to this point.
I called Kayode Komolafe last Wednesday, to interrogate the effusiveness of his support for the taxation idea, simply because I think there were questions that he did not ask about the agenda of the governors. Instructively, it was Adams Oshiomhole, also a governor that pointed out what must be one of the really critical issues to be resolved before the governors can impose taxes on the people. Adams’ paper was titled “Rebuilding Tax Payers’ Confidence: the Connection between Good Leaders and IGR”. While noting that state governments must have courage to impose taxes and judiciously use the proceeds, Adams nevertheless said that “if the people’s votes count, they will willingly pay their taxes because they trust their leaders. But if the leaders are not true representatives of the people, they will resist whatever tax imposition”. In short Adams reminds us that in Nigeria today, there are very few of the governors now asking to impose the burden of taxation on Nigerians, who can say that he was not rigged to power.
The truth is that we have a mockery, a joke of “democracy” in this land. The people’s votes are not counted and they don’t count. Governors, who want to impose taxes, are products of flawed elections and in real terms, the people have never mattered in their scheme of things. Aliyu Modibbo called them Emperor-Governors, and the description seems to be apt. Because in many cases, they don’t care about the people, expenditure have often been expended on what catches the fancy of governors, and more often than not, these hare-brained or white elephant projects, are designs to take money out of the states. The more these projects have accumulated, the more difficult it has become to sustain the greed at the base of their construction. The new fad is to borrow huge sums of money in the capital market to feed the frenzy of white elephant projects, the greed to pilfer the monies and finally the mortgaging of the futures of states! These borrowings are defrayed using future Federal Allocations. In many states, institutions of government are now directed to generate revenue, anyhow. The desperate search for money to cover shortfalls in spending is the real reason for the new craze for taxation!
Before any of the governors should institute new taxation, I think they must first of all transparently account for monies they have collected and expended in the past ten years. They should hold open forums attended by people in all the senatorial districts of our country. The people should have the right to ask any and all questions about the expenditure patterns; who got what contracts?; what the rationale for specific projects was; why allocation from Federation Account isn’t enough, etc. For a start, the governors might want to tell us what they have done with the millions of dollars that they collected in our name just over a month ago!
If there is no open form of accountability, then there can be no justification for the brimstones of taxation they are trying to rain on our people. It is imperative for governors to reign in greed, kleptomania and expenditure on projects that do not really improve the quality of lives of the people in their states. When that audit has been satisfactorily done and good governance is premised on free and fair elections which returns the genuine choice of the people not monsters rigged into power, then and only then can any governor justify the imposition of taxation on the long suffering people of our states. Any other thing will amount to opening a new aperture to feed unceasing greed in our states. Taxation can really be a veritable source of IGR, but there is a huge amount of murk to clear in our states before we arrive there!
THE TURF WAR AT THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Over the past week, Nigerians have been treated to a turf war in the haloed chambers of our National Assembly; it was as fitting as would make the Mafia proud! The absurdity was not in respect of how to advance the interests of the Nigerian people but on the trite point of where the annual ritual of the budget (that will not be implemented faithfully anyway!), was to be presented. A nation which allows itself to be run by people with tainted mandates can only harvest the level irresponsibility that we see all around us every day! We have thoroughly deserved the incompetence emanating from all realms of governance in our country because we did not dare to say No to fraudulent elections which return jokers to high places! Yet Mark and Bankole are from the same PDP! They cannot sort themselves out and we expect they will care about the Nigerian people! Amazing!
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Adeniyi Fadahunsi
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... Tax undoubtedly brings rapid growth and development to a country only if well utilized. The looters we have as leaders who are yet to tell Nigerians how they spend our monies,are now talking of TAX. Yes! TAX is good but not in Nigeria. Pay electricity tax? when the electricity generated for the whole country is not enough to service the South-East geopolitical zone alone; Pay Tax on consumer goods? these goods are even too expensive in the first place. Pay Income Tax? The masses have always paid but the rich only pay during election period or political appointment era. Who soever is planting this idea of Tax in this present day Nigeria must be dreaming and may never come out of his dream alive! The Strength To Fight Injustices Lies In Justice! |
Ladi Tobais
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... How can we trust the current crop of governors to utilise money raised through taxation effectively. The whole administration structure of local and state government has to be redesigned to channel our resources towards achieving sustainable development and people oriented projects. |
Sam Sam
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... this things must be discussed plans must be made Tax we must pay BUT the old money you must explain how you used it, you must account to the Town Hall. A city in California Vallejo CA.declared bankrupt both the Officials and citizens agreed the staff salaries was on the high side sadly we dont have any word like Bankrupt in Nigeria maybe that is why not too many people care about how the Federal allocation is spent it is not their money was not from their pocket. |
olusoji Johnson
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... Tax to who?these rogues?we will fight them to standstill,we did not vote you into office afterall.Are you not satisfied with the federal allocations you siphoned into your account abroad?you bent on taking all that we depend on for survivals.We are waiting for you. |
otitokoro ezeoku gaskia
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... Actually an afterthought here..We will pay tax to Governors but on one condition. The condition is that they trade their immunity from prosecution for internally generated tax..If they agree to that ..Shikena! they may collect as much tax as they want. Trade your immunity for tax collection. |
otitokoro ezeoku gaskia
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... Give me a break...tax..what tax, for you guys to embezzle? No way!..absolutely No way!. We'll pay reactionary tax..you tar my road and I'll pay my part...you connect me to water source I'll pay my part...but without doing anything but embezzling money I'll pay nothing..NULL TAX!. I might consider paying for the type of Fashola and recently maybe! I say maybe to Saraki...the others are bunch of rogues!!!!!! |
Jack
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... One of the many problem with the Nigerian governance is that no aspect of their policies or policy issues are thorough or thoughtfully planned to its logical conclusions without implicitly injecting some sort of tribal biasness. Many experts on multidiverse society will tell these self imposed governors that there are many many core issues of national interests that must be address before they can get to the point of introducing an aggressive taxational system on a society in which her population is, if not more than 70 percent jobless. The problem i'm seeing here is that most of the governors, especially those of them from both the North and Southwest axis treats issues of national interest that may not be favorable to them with levity, thereby adhering to what's termed 'ESCALATION OF COMMITMENT' by many experts. |
Ese Otaks
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... It is clear that the governors are now finding the federal allocation too little to satisfy their greed. Have the governors been able to account for the federal allocation? No. My position is that all Nigerians should resist any form of taxation. What are you paying tax for? To run the generator in the government house? When you are in perpetual darkness? Or to pay for foreign junketing to treat the most minor of ailments while malaria kills many at home? Or are you paying for shopping spree of these heartless politicians abroad? Or you want to pay tax that would simply be looted and spirited away to foreign countries? Take a good look at your environment. Schools, hospitals, roads, unemployment, robbery, power supply, human rights, police extortion and brutality. Just imagine it. Which of them is is not deteriorating? Could it be lack of money or is it the thievery of politicians? Nigeria can improve all these without taxation. I say resist any form of taxation!!!!! |
Inno
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... This Bandits Has never been faithfull with the federal allocations given to there states how much more the money they will generate from there states-? Just watch out very soon all this governor's will be using private jets as there official cars. Bandits born Bandits nothing good will everly come out of this present politicall system we have in Nigeria, U and I know's why,,,? |
