The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has admonished state governments to commit revenues they derive from taxes to valuable projects that will be beneficial for the citizens.
FIRS also expressed concern that 22 years since Nigeria started this democratic dispensation no legislative assembly has deemed it expedient to have a tax committee.
A statement from the FIRS yesterday said the Executive Chairman of the FIRS Mr. Muhammad Nami, gave charge in his goodwill message to the Nigeria Governors’ Forum’s Seventh Internally Generated Revenue Learning Event in Abuja.
Nami told the state governors “that tax-compliant citizens legitimately expect their leaders to provide them with necessary amenities for good living” and encouraged governments at all tiers to ensure that tax-compliant citizens enjoy the value for the taxes they pay.
According to him, “tax compliant citizens can legitimately expect their leaders to provide necessary amenities for a ‘good life”.
Nami noted that “governments at various tiers must, in view of the constitutional provisions, imbibe the culture of “value-for-money” or, put in proper perspective, “value-for tax-money”.
“We must see taxation in its proper context such that all arms of government (legislative, executive and judiciary) should accord it due attention” he said.
Nami also urged governors to look inwards and create alternative sources of revenue away from depending on revenue from oil sources, while also urging that they adopt the right tax policies to ensure funding for infrastructure in their states.
