Prompt payment of tax, effective vehicle for sustainable growth in Nigeria ―Aregbesola

GOVERNOR Rauf Aregbesola of Osun on Monday night restated that prompt payment of tax by all eligble Nigerians and corporate bodies remain the only effective vehicle that can guarantee sustainable development for the nation.

He said it was imperative for Nigerians, corporate entities, local and international business organisations to imbibe the culture of taxation, saying “for a developing country like Nigeria to meet up with the global requirements and cope with the trend of world socio-economic  and political challenges, taxation must be given topmost priority.”

This was contained in press statement endorsed by Aregbesola’s adviser on media, Mr Sola Fasure, a copy of which was made available to the Nigerian Tribune in Osogbo, on Tuesday.

He observed that all the responsible, civilised and advanced countries of the world were thriving and successful due to revenue generated through taxation, lamenting that  developing countries remain poor and backward because of their poor taxation culture.

Aregbesola made these disclosure  while addressing the leaders and members of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) Osogbo Branch‎, that came to present him the 2017 Group Dynamics Cup they won in the recent NSE competition.
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Attributing myriad of challenges confronting the Third World countries of the world to their collective failure to  premise government and governance on the resources generated  from taxes, the governor maintained that “emerging economic realities remained the signal to the fact that no nation can survive without huge revenue from taxation.

Aregbesola said, “It is unfortunate that most professions in our state ‎do not take the issues  of their taxes seriously. That is why I want to appeal to the leaders of the NSE and other professionals in the state to rally round their members to correctly and appropriately assess themselves so as to pay appropriate taxes to government.”

He continued, “before the military interregnum ‎in Nigeria, taxation was a serious civic obligation and responsibility of every citizen and as a matter of fact, the liberty of the citizens was defined and determined by how the citizens fulfilled their tax obligations.”
“At the time, negligence in the tax obligation had a citizen’s liberty circumscribed. But the military during its interregnum with the need for it to forcibly acquired legitimacy from the people, overlooked that very critical factor in modern society. The reason adults worked then was to  serve themselves and serve the government because there was no other way government could get money outside the taxes paid by all entities, both human and corporate entities in their domain,” Aregbesola remarked.

“It is not a doubt that today, all developed nations in the world have one characteristic of sole means of revenue generation from taxes paid by their citizens. The advanced nations of the world generate much more of their resources from the taxes paid by their citizens and that is the only way for responsible, civilized and consequently advanced nations to generate their revenues.”

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Earlier in his remarks, the chairman, Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Osogbo Branch, Engr Haqib Adetomiwa Zubayr ‎commended Aregbesola for always supporting the organisation, adding that he had provided enabling environment for the members of NSE to practice and as well associate as a professional body.