Nami Canvasses Effective Revenue Utilisation By African Countries At 7th ATAF General Assembly

The Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Muhammad Nami has said that Governments across Africa must begin to rethink governance, engender public confidence and trust in government by providing value for taxpayers’ money in line with their obligations under the social contract they have with citizens.

Nami, who stated this at the Opening Ceremony of the African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF) 7th General Assembly, held in Lagos, Nigeria, on Tuesday, stressed that it was imperative for African Tax Administrators to mobilise and speak with one voice as a regional bloc on global tax issues for their collective interests.

Speaking on the theme “Rethinking Revenue Strategies: The Human Face of Taxation,” Nami said that the Fiscal social contract which hinges on the willingness of the citizens to pay tax in return for the provision of public service is a clarion call on the government at all levels in Africa to rethink governance.

In the word of Nami; “In my view, if we must transform the tax system and enhance revenue collection in Africa, there is a need for the governance at all levels to engender public confidence and trust in government by providing value for taxpayers’ money”.

The FIRS boss also stated that governments should reconsider how projects are reported in the public space, with such reports communicating to convey the idea that taxpayers’ money is used to fund infrastructural projects.

In his own remarks, the Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who was represented by the Executive Chairman of Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS), Mr. Hamzat Ayodele Subair, said there was a need to give taxation a human face, by implementing projects with taxpayers’ money that impact the lives of the citizens.

According to him; “There is no development without funding. We have amongst others, embarked on major transformational infrastructure projects cutting across transport, health, education, agriculture, and technology among others.

“These major infrastructural interventions are designed to improve the quality of life of our citizens and re-engineer economic growth and development trajectory with improved productivity of our citizenry, which invariably improves our tax generating abilities.

“In a bid to save the human face of taxation, communication and feedback from the taxpayer are of paramount importance,” he said.

Also speaking at the event, the Executive Secretary of the African Tax Administration Forum, Mr. Logan Wort, noted that a critical component of rethinking Domestic Revenue Mobilization is to ensure that government has an impact on the lives of citizens.

He said; “While we consider strategies or frameworks within which to enhance Domestic Resource Mobilization on the continent, we must always put into perspective its primary objective—being the impact on people’s lives as reflected by ATAF’s mandate in the new decade which is to serve the higher purpose of enabling and assisting African governments to mobilize their own domestic resources through taxation in order to build states that foster economic growth and social development in the interest and wellbeing of all their citizens.

“This mandate especially the latter part is one we all share in various capacities across our jurisdictions, and one that must drive our Domestic Resource Mobilization objectives”.

A statement by Johannes Oluwatobi Wojuola, Special Assistant to the Executive Chairman, FIRS on Media & Communication said the 7th ATAF General Assembly, which is being hosted by the FIRS, has in attendance tax administrators from 41 tax authorities in Africa.

Wojuola further said the meeting is the first physical gathering of the Forum since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out.