Dwindling revenue: AGF, Idris seeks involvement of active tax administrators for solution

The Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris has solicited for active involvement of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN) in finding solutions to the revenue challenges the country is facing presently.

He made the call while interacting with the President and members of the National Council and Chapter Chairmen of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN) who visited him in Abuja.

Idris tasked the professional tax practitioners and administrators to deploy their expertise to assist the government at all levels uncover new frontiers that can be explored to shore up the dwindling finances.

“The Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria has a very important role to play in salvaging the revenue challenges at all levels. It is important to make your presence and expertise available to all levels of governments to address the challenging revenue situation”, he said.

The Accountant General of the Federation urged the professional tax practitioners and administrators to deploy their expertise in capacity building for government revenue personnel to improve their efficiency and also bring up new ideas that will help the government exploit revenue sources that have remained untapped.

He stated the readiness of the Federal Treasury to continue to collaborate with the Institute and expressed optimism that associating with the Institute will make a lot of difference in achieving the dream of increased revenue generation.

He said the Federal Treasury is to sign a Memorandum of Understanding(MOU) with the Institute on the areas of collaboration and promised that all necessary measures will be taken to ensure that the collaboration is successful and yields the desired results.

While noting that the Federal Treasury has had a longstanding, mutually beneficial and profit-oriented relationship with the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN), Idris sought their participation in a special research that has been commissioned by the Federal Treasury to explore key sources of revenue and make them available for the government.

On the need to improve the capacity of Revenue Directors deployed to Revenue Agencies, the Accountant General of the Federation assured that henceforth the Chartered Institute of Taxation in Nigeria (CITN) would be engaged to train prospective Revenue Directors before deployment to improve their capacity to deliver on their mandate.

In his address, the President Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN), Adesina Adedayo commended the Accountant General of the Federation for the successes recorded by the Federal Treasury in implementation of the financial management reforms initiatives of the Federal Government.

He mentioned that the Institute presently has 42 District Societies spread across 32 States and the FCT and restated the commitment of the Institute to entrench professionalism in the Nigerian Tax System.

He assured that the Institute is poised to foster a better working relationship with the Federal Treasury.