A former Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Dr Obadiah Mailafia, has urged state governments to domesticate the Fiscal Responsibility Act.
Maliafia gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Enugu on Thursday.
He said that internalising and implementing the Treasury Single Account financial principles would check financial leakages.
The former CBN deputy governor said state and local governments lacked finances to carry out public and social works because of insincerity and non-implementation of progressive laws and best practices by relevant authorities.
Mailafia, presented a paper entitled: “Effective Public Finance Laws and Financial Regulations: A Panacea for Public Financial Management Reforms “at the ongoing three-day State and Local Governance Reform Annual Retreat on PFM Reforms.
According to him, less than 10 per cent of Nigerians pay their taxes to government.
He said: “The nonpayment of taxes is becoming alarming as the day goes by in the country.
“About 40 or 50 years ago, most people pay taxes even for their bicycles and taxes receipts and clearance certificates form the basis of people benefitting from governments public or social services.
“However, today, the very rich and mostly traders hardly pay a kobo and they do not care that they are robbing the government.
“Whereas in other climes like in Britain, you must pay up-to-date tax on even electronic appliances such as television and radio usage in your house and office.
“Over there, the government had developed devices and templates to ensure that everyone makes vital societal payment.”
According to him, everybody earning something no matter how little must be captured in the tax dragnet for government to have pool of money to meet its obligations to the people.
Mailafia argued that having a sound financial management system would ensure appropriate use of the Internally Generated Revenue for the overall benefit of the people.
He stressed the need for state government to ensure automation of the financial system aside from constituting boards made up of people of integrity and appointing top tax officers to manage the IGR.
He said: “There should be constant engagement and monitoring by the masses over these individuals, who administer or manage IGR resources of a state to ensure people get value for the taxes and other forms of levies they pay.”
NAN reports that the SLOGOR project is funded by the European Union and managed by the World Bank.
The project began in 2014 and is expected to wind up on September 30, 2019.
The participating states in SLOGOR project are Anambra, Cross River, Jigawa, Kano, Osun and Yobe.
The retreat is organised by the Federal Ministry of Budget and National Planning in collaboration with the World Bank and European Union.
The theme of the retreat is: “Assessing the Implementation of the PFM Reforms at the Sub-National Levels of Government”.
The retreat which started on May 2 would end on May 4.
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