public officers who steal public funds.
The new tax system will have links with every bank in Nigeria through a comprehensive computerisation process, making it possible for every account operated by either the government or private individuals to be monitored in the tax offices across the federation while information on lodgements would be available to the tax officers at the touch of a button.
A director in the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Alhaji Attah Abdullahi made this known in Abuja, on Monday, during a workshop themed “Development of Corruption Prevention Strategy for Nigeria” organised by Justice For All and the Department for International Development (DFID), in collaboration with the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) at the Sheraton Hotel, Abuja.
The FIRS official said every registered business would henceforth be taxed, including transactions by importers, while Nigerians who had been evading taxes would now be compelled through the new system to pay.
Abdullahi said already, the FIRS had recruited no fewer than 2,000 experts to operate the new tax system, disclosing that those recruited were already undergoing special training in spite of their being experts in different but related fields.
He said among those recruited were officials from the banking sector, GSM providers, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), ICPC, Code of Conduct, the State Security Service (SSS) and different ministries, stressing that before being employed, each of them went through competitive screenings to obtain the best among them.
He said every taxpayer would have a tax identification code, which would make tax evaders to be easily detected and the FIRS would create data on taxpayers both at the state and federal levels with the new tax system.
He disclosed also that while arrangements were on to roll out the new system, the proper operation would begin to take effect in the next two years.
He said that Nigerians with ill-gotten wealth would be taxed, including the properties they had used looted funds to acquire as, according to him, the FIRS had forged a synergy with the Abuja Geographic Information System (AGIS) to track properties which should be properly taxed.
He disclosed that the FIRS would be at liberty to implement the new tax system, having achieved financial autonomy, adding that the tax agency in Nigeria would be going into partnership with the EFCC, the ICPC and other anti-corruption agencies to this effect.
He said taxation had become a very strategic means of fund generation for the government, recalling that FIRS, under Mrs Ifueko Omoigui-Okauru, had made advancement in raising funds for the government from billions mark to trillions.
The National Programme Manager for Justice For All and DFID, Dr Bob Arnot, in his remarks at the workshop, said his agency had been working with the anti-corruption agencies in the country with a view to making them efficient and result-oriented.
The British government, he disclosed, had spent not less than £5 million in the past four years to support the anti-corruption agencies in the country, most especially on strategies to prevent corruption.
He said DFID could only offer logistics support, including training and provision of equipment to the agencies in fighting corruption, stressing that the fight against the menace would only record maximum success if government could exhibit the political will to fight it.
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