Kemi Adeosun, minister of finance, has asked the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) to label tax evasion by multinational companies as “foreign corrupt practices”.
Adeosun made this request while speaking at the Platform for Collaboration on Tax (PCT) conference in New York.
The PCT is an initiative of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), World Bank Group, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and United Nations.
She said Nigeria was doubly affected by illicit financial flows as a result of corruption and tax evasion.
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“There is absolute need for a complete understanding of how these Multinational Corporations (MNCs) behave in Nigeria and developing countries, many operate a completely different standard in Africa to what obtains globally,” she said.
According to the minister, defaulting MNCs can hide behind slow legislative processes to avoid doing what is right in the nations from which they derived significant income.
Adeosun said options to sue such companies in their own countries were being explored and that the designation of tax crime as foreign corrupt practices would support such efforts.
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She said the Nigerian government would use every available avenue to improve its revenue generation and tax collection, with the UN putting the issue of illicit financial flows at the forefront of the fight against IFF.
“The Nigerian government is taking responsibility for preventing illicit flows but the range of measures used and the sheer volumes are such that the recipient nations must also take measures to discourage the flows into their countries by asking more questions,” she said.
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