‘Improvement in IGR Will Drive Socio-economic Indices’

Kathryn Bushkin Calvin, former President and Chief Executive Officer of the United Nations Foundation once remarked that “giving is not just about donating. It is about making a difference.” As the Covid-19 pandemic continues on its devastating impact across the world, humanity needed individuals and corporations to rise up to the task of protecting those rendered vulnerable in the crisis. Apart from the direct effect the pandemic is having in people’s lives across the globe, the economic impact, including job layoffs, plummeting stock market, global business uncertainties, and economic recession are unprecedented with Nigeria not immune to the effects of the pandemic.

As the healthcare system continues to struggle under the additional strain of the pandemic, the economy is projected to go into a recession by the third quarter of 2020. Finance Minister, Zainab Ahmed, warning about the recession explained that “net oil and gas revenue input to the federation account in the first quarter of 2020 amounted to N940.91 billion, representing a shortfall of N125.52 billion. With the work the Economic Sustainability Committee is doing in bringing up a stimulus package, we believe that we can reduce the impact of that recession.”

“If we implement the measures that have been proposed, we might end up with a recession that is -0.4 per cent, but in any case, we will go into recession. What we are trying to do is to make sure that it is shallow so that we will quickly come out of it in 2021.”

In a country where the government is the biggest spender and where 40.1 per cent of citizens live below the poverty line, according to the 2019 Poverty and Inequality in Nigeria Report of the National Bureau of Statistics, these projections are frightening.

Following the country’s index case on February 27, people expected the worst to come, but the government, through the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and the Covid-19 Presidential Tax Force, with noteworthy support from the private sector has been battling the pandemic valiantly.

Commendably, the private sector has been incredibly supportive of the government in these times.

One of the private sector players leading the charge against the pandemic in the country is the Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC). The company which has been the franchise bottler and distributor for The Coca-Cola Company in Nigeria since 1951 says it sees the fight as a crucial one for the country, and as more than just another corporate social responsibility initiative.

The company has dedicated substantial resources to battling the scourge of covid-19 on multiple fronts.

The company’s first intervention was targeted at people on the frontline: The patients and healthcare workers. In recognising the need to keep these vulnerable people hydrated and nourished, NBC in collaboration with Coca-Cola Nigeria, donated over 13 million centilitres of its beverages, including Eva premium table water and other soft drinks to patients and healthcare workers at isolation and treatment centres across different states in the country.

In Lagos, the Onikan and Gbagada Isolation and Treatment Centres, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Federal Medical Centre, Ebute-Metta, and the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) whose street sweepers and medical waste workers have been working actively while the pandemic lasts, were among the first beneficiaries of the Company’s initial donations.

Other states which subsequently benefited from the donations were the FCT, Edo, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo, Rivers, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Imo, Kaduna, Kano, Niger, Lagos, Anambra, Delta and Ekiti.

The company, in another laudable move, did not neglect vulnerable Nigerians who found it difficult to feed themselves because of disruptions to their businesses and jobs as a result of the lockdowns.

NBC distributed food items to thousands of households across the country to help them mitigate the impact of the pandemic. The first phase of the NBC Food Relief Intervention saw over 2,300 homes in 14 locations across the country receive essential food items, including rice, noodles and cooking oil amongst others.

The intervention, commenced with 300 beneficiaries receiving foodstuff in Ota, Ogun State and Asejire, Oyo State. An additional 150 households benefitted in Abuja, Port Harcourt, Maiduguri, Makurdi, Warri, Enugu and Minna. Two hundred families each also got relief packages in Benin City, Owerri, Challawa and Ikeja.

Commenting on the intervention, Director, Public Affairs and Communications, NBC, Ekuma Eze, said the exercise was part of NBC’s commitment to supporting its host communities across the country.

“The impact of the Covid-19 has been quite unbearable for many families. As a socially responsible organisation, we believe there is no better time to identify with these people across our communities than now,” he said.

Ugo Aliogo

The Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi has said an improvement in Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), blocking tax leakages, creating new tax sources and improved efficiency in tax collection, would lead to improvement in socio-economic.

He said there is a direct correlation between tax payments, usage, economic and infrastructural development.

Fayemi, who disclosed this recently in a webinar said the NGF has set up internally generated revenue dashboard that focuses on sharing knowledge and experiences in tax collection and revenue generation across States.

The Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) revealed that leaders need to ensure that resources generated from tax payers are effectively utilised, adding that government at all levels should ensure that tax leakages are plugged and properly utilised.

In her remarks, the Minister for Finance, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, said low revenue remains a challenge Nigeria is currently grappling with.

Ahmed, who was represented during the webinar by Special Adviser to the President Muhammadu Buhari on Finance and Economy, Dr. Sarah Alade, said the Covid-19 pandemic and the inherent lockdown meant that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Nigeria would in its best-case scenario contract by four per cent, “and in the worst-case scenario contract by about eight per cent.”

The minister noted that up to 21 million jobs could be affected by the pandemic.

Ahmed reaffirmed that the recently launched Economic Sustainability Plan would help mitigate against the effects of the lockdown and ensure stability through the support of MSME’s, accelerate infrastructural development, deregulation of refined petroleum products, incentivizing the use of pension funds and supporting States to access external funds and others.

She reiterated that revenue mobilisation was important, saying debt relief and external funding must be sought to achieve this.

The executive chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service of Nigeria (FIRS), Mr. Mohammed Nami, said FIRS was rewarding professionalism in its system and deploring technology in its operations to ensure the payment and collection of taxes are easier.

Nami added that the FIRS was boosting the morale of tax payers through communication portals where members of the public can engage him and other senior members on tax issues directly.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Mission Chief and Senior Representative to Nigeria, Ms. Jesmin Rahman, said that it was important for Nigeria to raise trust in public institutions and services by ensuring accountability.

She said this can be achieved through increasing tax revenue, expansion of the tax base and modernization of the tax system.