Tinubu’s tax bills on revenue derivation long overdue -, Ekiti finance commissioner, Oyebode

……it will enhance economic growth, development in Nigeria

By Matthew Denis 

The Commissioner of Finance Ekiti state and Chairman Forum of state Commissioners of Finance of the Federation, Akin Oyebode has described the tax bills introduced by the Presidential Committee on fiscal tax policy and Federal Inland Revenue service on revenue derivation as a long overdue tax reforms to enhance economic growth and development in the country.

He made disclosure during an interview with our Business Correspondent at the 5th edition of the National Treasury workshop held in Abuja yesterday.

Mr. Oyebode said ”the workshop is coming at a period when the country is undertaking tax reforms, and if you think about some of the bills that have been brought by the FIRS and Presidential committee on fiscal tax policy, they are actually a set of long overdue reforms of our tax laws.

”So those bills are critical to non oil revenue, which is a vital component of growing Nigeria’s economy.

”There is also a Gross Domestic Product rebasing exercise that is going on, which means the size of the economy is likely to expand, so our tax to GDP ratio is likely to drop. So this workshop is critical in ensuring we deepen tax penetration and take tax to GDP ratio back to normal levels.”

According to him the event is well intentioned and planned, considering the fact that the theme is focused on the non oil revenue sector of the country.

He said “as you know Nigerians have paid too much attention to the oil revenue and we have been over reliant on the oil Sector revenue.”

On the raising of external debt, the Commissioner outlined that we know what the borrowing is used for as we are going to pay back the loans and are they put into productive activities that allows you to deepen your economy and revenue base.

He said “we must be more intentional with the kind of debts that we are taking as it’s seen in most geopolitics all over the world the aid industry is shifting quickly and foreign aid no longer exists. It means that anybody who is giving you capital today is doing it as a loan or equity in exchange for a return.

Oyebode equally advised that we must be mindful of the foreign exchange rates (dollar to Naira) which hamper our ability to repay those loans.