NGF: We will collaborate with JTB to increase tax revenue by 200%

The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) says it will collaborate with the Joint Tax Board (JTB) to increase aggregate tax revenue by 200 percent.

The governors’ forum said this on Wednesday at its second meeting for the year.

In a communique released after the meeting, Kayode Fayemi, chairman of NGF and governor of Ekiti, said the governors pledged support for the Data for Tax (D4T) initiative. 

According to Fayemi, the D4T initiative envisages an ecosystem where financial and non-financial data on all individuals and economic transactions will be collated into a central National Tax Data Bank with the National Identification Number (NIN) as the primary unifying code.

“Members received a presentation from the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Service (FIRS) and Chairman of the Joint Tax Board (JTB), Mr. Muhammad M. Nami, on the national Data for Tax Initiative,” the communique reads.

“Members pledged their support for the project which is aimed at expanding the country’s tax net to at least 90% of all eligible taxable persons and committed to collaborating with the JTB to increase the country’s aggregate tax revenue by up to 200% as envisaged.”

According to the communique, the forum also deliberated on setting up farm settlement estates for groups of smallholder producers. 

“Olusola Idowu, the National Convenor of the UN Food Systems and Permanent Secretary of Budget and National Planning, delivered a presentation on the National Pathway to Food Systems Transformation,” the communique adds.

“The role of governors in the plan is to prioritise the establishment of farm settlement estates for groups of smallholder producers, including women and youths, to increase the supply of farm inputs, the use of machinery, access to extension services, and market access. 

“The forum affirmed its commitment to the ideals of the programme which many states are already pursuing and committed to working with the federal government to expand the development of these settlements across the country.”

On the other hand, Fayemi said Alex Okoh, director-general of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), briefed the state governors on the proposed sale of five power plants under the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC).

He noted that the presentation was part of the consultative process with state governments who are shareholders of the plants.

“The forum also received a presentation on the status of the country’s digital identification programme from Engr. Aliyu A. Aziz, Director General/Chief Executive Officer of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC),” Fayemi said.

“To strengthen the national enrollment exercise which has so far seen the issuance of over 74 million national identification numbers (NIN) to Nigerians across the country, Governors pledged to support the programme through a string of measures, including support for sensitization activities, integration of NIN in state services and collaboration with telecoms providers to improve network infrastructure for sustained identity registration and authentication. 

“Governors re-echoed the need to complete the harmonization and integration of databases, to reduce the carriage of multiple identifications (IDs) by citizens noting that being able to uniquely identify persons is extremely important for social security and cross-state border management. NIMC is to liaise with State Governments through its various State Coordinators in addition to working with the NGF Secretariat.”

Also, he said all states have received the letter of eligibility for the Nigeria COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (NG-CARES) programme.

NG-CARES programme is a response plan for vulnerable and poor Nigerians, designed to provide immediate emergency relief to smallholder farmers and SMEs that were adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said, “a programme update on NG-CARES was delivered by Firo Elhassan Kaka, the NGF secretariat’s programme Manager, on the Nigeria COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (NG-CARES) programme”. 

“All 36 States of the federation have already received letters of eligibility for the programme, and all results achieved by the States with effect from June 2020 are eligible for verification as prior results. These will be assessed for reimbursement at the next verification exercise,” Fayemi added.