Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, will lead other top stakeholders to deliver a lecture on ‘Developing a National Revenue Sustainability Framework’ at the E-Revenue Sustainability Conference 2016, an annual forum organized by Intermarc Consulting Limited.
According to the organizers, the conference billed to hold from May 10 – 11 at the Shehu Musa Yar’Ádua Centre, Abuja, will proffer strategies and tactics to grow revenues from existing and new IGR sources within the federation, while also exploring effective ways of collecting revenues electronically for the nation’s economic growth.
Other industry captains expected to speak at the event which will attract over 1000 delegates from all over the nation; both private and public sectors include the Accountant General of the federation, Ahmed Idris; Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Services, FIRS, Babatunde Fowler; Executive Secretary, Joint Tax Board, M. L. Abubakar; and the managing director of Heritage Bank, Ifie Sekibo.
Speaking with newsmen in Lagos, the chief convener from Intermarc Consulting, Mrs Davida Chibuike- Ahuama, said that the forum, which is the maiden edition, will provide government and local authority an avenue to focus and tackle the challenges faced with identifying and sourcing for IGR revenue collect management and accountability across the continent.
“Solution providers and thought leaders will share their ideas and share best practices to authorities for pockets of excellence to be replicated,” she said.
“The conference will demonstrate that a one-size-fits-all approach will not work and will explore the need to identify different policy responses for overall accountability in building robust and financially sustainable revenue collection in Nigeria.
“The continued serious decline in price of oil in recent times has led to the drastic fall in the revenues available to the government of Nigeria, 95% of which is from oil and gas resources.
“The impact of this negative development is felt in the area of revenue allocation to the various tiers of Government. The need for Federal, State and local governments to generate adequate revenue from internal sources has therefore become a matter of extreme urgency and importance.
“This need underscores the eagerness on the part of governments to sustain the traditional areas of taxation through Internally Generated Revenues (IGR) as well as look for new sources of revenue in an innovative manner in order to grow revenue base and reduce loss. Taxation plays strategic role in the survival and development of a Nigeria Nation,” she noted.
Also speaking on the impact of the conference on the Nigerian economy, Mrs. Davida Chibuike noted that “Today, both taxpayers and tax administrators must cope with more difficult environments with fewer resources.
“The role of new technology in influencing the way a country’s tax system or particular taxes becomes an issue that needs urgent attention.”
“The realization of this fact has triggered much interest, planning and restructuring in the area of developing taxation, especially in the developing economies, including Nigeria”.
“Over the years, the federal government has been doing so much in revaluing, restructuring and reforming the Nigeria tax system with the primary objectives of making it the main source of revenue generation for the government as obtained in other developed countries,” she concluded.
For further information, please contact; Davida – 08034394845 (davida@prepaygo-ng.com) and Igho – 08186949860 (igho@prepaygo-ng.com). You can also visit: www.prepaygo-ng.com
