BY GLORIA USMAN, ABUJA – The Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris has said that the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN) has a very important role to play in salvaging the revenue challenges facing the country at all levels.
The AGF therefore solicited the active involvement of the CITN in finding lasting solutions to the revenue challenges confronting the country.
Idris, who stated these when he received in audience the President and members of the National Council and Chapter chairmen of the CITN in Abuja, tasked the professional tax practitioners and administrators to deploy their expertise to assist the government at all levels uncover new frontiers that can be explored to shore up the dwindling finances.
He said; “It is important to make your presence and expertise available to all levels of governments to address the challenging revenue situation”, he said.
The AGF urged the tax practitioners and administrators to deploy their expertise in capacity building for government revenue personnel to improve their efficiency and also bring up new ideas that will help the government exploit revenue sources that have remained untapped.
Idis assured of the readiness of the Federal Treasury to continue to collaborate with the Institute and expressed optimism that associating with the Institute will make a lot of difference in achieving the dream of increased revenue generation.
He said the Federal Treasury is to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Institute on the areas of collaboration and promised that all necessary measures will be taken to ensure that the collaboration is successful and yields the desired results.
Idris said that the Federal Treasury has had a longstanding, mutually beneficial and profit-oriented relationship with the CITN and therefore sought their participation in a special research that has been commissioned by the Federal Treasury to explore key sources of revenue and make them available for the government.
On the need to improve the capacity of revenue directors deployed to revenue agencies, the AGF assured that henceforth, the Chartered Institute of Taxation in Nigeria would be engaged to train prospective revenue directors before deployment to improve their capacity to deliver on their mandate.
Earlier in his remarks, the President of the CITN, Mr. Adesina Adedayo, commended the Accountant General of the Federation for the successes recorded by the Federal Treasury in the implementation of the financial management reforms initiatives of the Federal Government.
Adebayo said the institute presently has 42 District Societies spread across 32 States and the FCT and restated the commitment of the institute to entrench professionalism in the Nigerian Tax System.
He said that the CITN is poised to foster a better working relationship with the Federal Treasury.
