Peter Uzoho
A civil society organisation, Community Life Project, in conjunction with the USAID has offered training to over 60 leaders of various artisanal groups in Lagos State to enable them engage the state government constructively on tax-related issues.
The training, which lasted for three days with the title: ‘Capacity Building Workshop on Informal Sector Taxation for Leaders of Artisanal Groups in Lagos State,’ held at the Isolo Community Centre, was a follow up of the research validation workshop conducted recently by the NGO..
According to the organisation, the training was necessary as it was aimed at offering the participants requisite skill and knowledge on their approach of government on tax issues and also to keep them abreast of the current tax policies in the state.
It said the programme was also intended to help the sector guard against multiple taxation and tax fraud.
“What the training is trying to accomplish is to first of all give them a good understanding of what the issues are – current tax rate, tax compliance, multiple taxation and tax fraud, and also to ensure that when they sit with government in dealing with these matters, they are really focused and clear on what they want,†Facilitator and Programme Coordinator, CLP, Mr. Francis Onahor told THISDAY.
He explained that participants were made to understand the role of the various levels of government, their sources of revenue and why they (government) continued to fail in their responsibilities, saying those were part of the issues raised by them in the report of the survey it presented earlier.
“So they now have a good understanding of the issues; they now know what they should be asking the local government and the state government. They’re really clear about the issues now,†Onahor said.
