House Urges FG to Grant Tax Incentives to Firms Engaged in Dev’t of Public Schools, Hospitals

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja 

The House of Representatives has called on the Federal Government to consider granting tax incentives to more companies engaged in the infrastructural development of public schools and hospitals under the Infrastructure Development and Refurbishment investment Tax Credit (RITC) Scheme.

The resolution of the House was sequel to the adoption of a motion sponsored by Hon. Nnolim Nnaji and eight others at the plenary on Thursday.

Presenting the motion, Nnaji recalled that on January 25, 2019, then Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari signed the Presidential Executive Order for the RITC scheme.

He explained that the RITC Scheme is a form of tax incentive granted to Nigerian companies that engage in the construction and refurbishment of roads designated by the Federal Government as eligible road infrastructure projects. 

The lawmaker stressed that the main objective of the scheme was to sensitise and promote private sector funding for road infrastructure projects in a manner that would generate value for money and guarantee participant’s timely and full recovery of funds provided for the construction or repair.

Nnaji said that in 2021, the then Federal Inland Revenue Service Coordinating Director, Tax Operations Group, Femi Oluwaniyi, urged other corporate bodies across the country to join NLNG, MTN and others, to take advantage of government’s tax credit facility and certificate for providing road infrastructures.

According to him, the burden of bridging the infrastructure gap was too heavy for the Federal Government to bear alone due to the global economic challenges, with public schools and hospitals being at the verge of collapse due to poor infrastructural funding and development.

Nnaji added that provision of good schools and hospitals are the bedrock of societal development and economic growth, leading to reduction in unemployment, social vices, moral decadence, drug abuse, youth restiveness, mortality rate, spread of diseases and unhealthy environment.

He added that the current economic instability was impeding government’s intervention or adequate funding of public schools and hospitals, which was cancerous to societal development and might be the fundamental causes of insecurity, medical tourism, school degradation and incessant migration abroad.

The lawmaker stated that it behooves the government to replicate similar tax waivers and incentives granted to those companies engaged in RITC to more private companies for partnership in bridging the infrastructural gap in public schools and hospitals.

He said when the private companies embark on such infrastructural development of public schools and hospitals, it would boost their corporate image, especially in economically disadvantaged areas and would possibly reduce corporate income tax payable in a year of assessment where it has unutilised tax credit.

The House, therefore, urged “the Federal Government to consider granting tax incentives to more companies for engagement in the infrastructural development of public schools and hospitals under a similar RITC Scheme, which can mitigate the fiscal responsibility of government and increase its revenue. 

“The various Ministers of Finance, Education and Health, with FIRS, to activate the bureaucratic processes for the successful implementation of this tax incentives by outlining measures and rules of engagement with stakeholders input and thriving mode of operation”.