Proposed Taxation Bill Has Enough to Change Nigeria’s Fortune, Says CITN Boss

Kuni Tyessi in Abuja

President and Chairman of Council at the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria, CITN, Mr. Samuel Agbeluyi, has disclosed that the proposed taxation bill has all it takes to change the country’s fortune up to three times of what it currently receives as tax.

Speaking at the grand finale of the 2025 tax school debate competition which was organized by the Society of Women in Taxation, SWIT, and with the topic – “Increase in Value Added Tax Rate is Beneficial to the Economy” – Agbeluyi said there are 65-70 percent different types of taxes been streamlined, and for effectiveness, non-state actors must be forced to desist from harassing innocent Nigerians in the name of tax collection.

He said to succeed in this, governors must do a lot to take care of such illegalities before there can be seamless implementation of the bill, and at the end of the day, more money will come into the purse of the government at the federal, state and local levels.
“Some of the taxes are been collected by non-state actors. So, the governors must do a lot to take care of those people, take them off the road and stop them from harassing innocent Nigerians who are going about their daily business.

“Once such people have been taken care of, there will be seamless implementation of the bill, and at the end of the day, more money will come into the purse of the government, and with this, Nigeria can get more than three times what the country is getting right now in all the levels of government.

“Once this is done, there will be sufficient funds in the purse of the government to finance public expenditure. This is the focus, once everybody is sincerely committed to it, once accented to by the president, during the implementation, the bill has enough to change the fortune of Nigeria” he said.
Fifth chairperson of SWIT, Dr. Bosede Ikahnoba, who reiterated that taxation has become a contemporary issue, noted that this is the best time to be a tax professional in the country.

She said the schools’ debate as an annual initiative is to sensitize through advocacy, knowledge that will assist early engagements in the lives of young people, and with emphasis on female students in secondary schools.
She said the 2025 competition which featured six states namely Adamawa, Anambra, Edo, Kano, Kwara and Ogun- representing the six geopolitical zones will develop a culture of voluntary compliance and other key values towards improving the nation’s economy as whole when in the young minds.

According to her, “The tax debate is part of SWIT education, sensitization and advocacy activities with the objective of enhancing our young girls with knowledge to assist in their respective early engagements as tax ambassadors, thus helping to raise tax payers’ awareness including obligations on payment of taxes, develop a culture of voluntary compliance and other key values towards improving the nation’s economy as whole.

“We look forward to some of our participants today becoming future tax professionals- accountants, lawyers, auditors, bankers and other relevant professions.”