Nigeria loses not less than N100 billion every year in tax-related fraud, experts said at the weekend during the 25th Anti-corruption Situation Room organised by HEDA Resource Centre.
The programme held at the Sheraton Hotel, Lagos, was in commemoration of the June 12, 1993 elections won by late Chief MKO Abiola.
Professionals from different fields said tax manipulation and evasion by individuals and corporate organisations remain one of the most devastating sources of corruption in Nigeria.
In his opening remark, the chairman, HEDA Resource Centre, Olanrewaju Suraju, said corruption remains a recurrent problem in Nigeria with grave consequences on political stability, poverty, lack of jobs, growing wave of violence and extremism.
He urged Nigerians to work in unity to tackle the menace headlong.
At the conference were representatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), MacArthur Foundation, Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA)uu, Society for West Africa Internal Auditors Practitioners of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN), Lagos Chambers of Commerce, Chartered Institute of Loan and Risk Management (CILRN), Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS), Justice Development and Peace Commission, (JPDC) of the Catholic Church, and Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), among others.
Participants at the conference said corruption cannot be fought effectively unless Nigeria deals with tax fraud, saying that many individuals and corporate organisations evade or manipulate tax in collaboration with professionals like accountants and lawyers.
- “Tax remains the only steady source of income. Unless there is a transparent tax regime, more than 100 billion will be lost by Nigerians every year to tax-related fraud,” they said in the communique issued at the end of the daylong event.
They identified the pervasive corruption patterns as illicit money transfer, bribery, electoral malpractices, sharp practices by professionals, and an increasing number of cyber criminals.
Participants particularly expressed deep concerns about how corruption affects women and the girlchild across the country, either through exclusion, discrimination or sex corruption.
They also acknowledged the efforts of the Nigerian government in the fight against corruption, including the implementation of policies like the (Bank Verification Number) BVN, Treasury Single Account, trial and conviction of high profile politically exposed persons, but that a lot more still needs to be done.
The conference was in partnership with the Technical Unit on Governance and Anti-Corruption Reforms (TUGAR), Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism, (PTCIJ), National Orientation Agency (NOA) and AFRICMIL
Participants urged the government at all levels to enforce an effective tax system.
They also enjoined people and the government not to relent in their determination to defeat corruption so as to bring back Nigeria on a path of glory and renaissance.
To effectively fight corruption, the participants said lawyers, engineers, accountants, auditors, journalists, builders and medical practitioners should all discharge their obligations with the highest sense of transparency and accountability.
Resource persons at the conference included Dr Adebukola Adebayo, chairman, Joint Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAPWD); HEDA Resource Centre, Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC); Professor Isah Sadiq Raddah; Barrister Muhuyi Magaji, Chairman, Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission; Dr. Abiola Akiode-Afolabi, among others.
The chairman of the conference was Professor Sadiq Raddah, while the keynote address was delivered by Femi Falana, SAN.