The Chairman Board of Trustees of the philanthropic and BBC praised “Sarah Enang Humanitarian Foundation”, SEHF, Dr. Wisdom Patrick Enang, has described the idea of having a unified taxation system in Akwa Ibom, as a key imperative for State and business Growth.
Dr. Wisdom Enang made the assertion on Friday, 17th February 2023, while reacting to questions from newsmen who sought to know his take on the idea.
Dr. Enang who is a Chartered Engineer with full accreditation and registration with the United Kingdom Engineering Council, stressed that the Akwa Ibom Internal Revenue Service and the Board of Internal Revenue under it, was a revenue institution established to mobilize revenue for the strategic development of the State through effective and optimum collection of all taxes, and related penalties due to the government, under the relevant laws.
Dr. Enang, a Fellow of both the Nigerian Society of Engineers (FNSE), and the Nigerian Institution of Safety Engineers, (NISafetyE), informed that for the AKIRS to accomplish the core mandate for which it was established, it must evolve strategic plans towards a unified taxation system, which will totally eliminate the issue of double taxation, which militates against businesses in Akwa Ibom State and Nigeria today.
He said that while it behoves the government to provide both the enabling environment and social infrastructure needed for business and other endeavors to thrive, it was rationally incumbent on the citizens too, to promptly remit their taxes to government approved coffers, if the needed business ambience and symbiotic relationship must be sustained.
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Reminding our people of the Akwa Ibom State Government 2022 – 2024 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), and Fiscal Strategy Plan (FSP) released last year, Dr. Wisdom Enang said that the fiscal operations of the State government is aimed at achieving a Gross Domestic Product growth of 5.5 percent or higher, reducing unemployment, and increasing revenue to GDP ratio of 20 percent by 2024.
Others, according to Dr. Enang are: Rationalizing unproductive expenditure; Containing budget deficit to not more than 3.0 percent of GDP; Achieving primary surplus by 2024 and beyond, and lastly; Reducing the Government debt to GDP ratio to at most 45.0 percent by 2024.
The Adjutant Professor of the North Dakota University, USA, reasoned that with a fiscal Strategy designed to enhance the much-needed growth drivers of the State economy, the taxation system in the State cannot not be anything else but unified, this he emphasized will go a long way in boosting the internally generated revenue, as it augments the federal allocation to the State.
Dr Enang however lamented that the undue reliance on statutory allocation from the center is not healthy and robust for the State economy.
“Over 85.0 percent of Nigeria’s revenue and foreign exchange earnings is inextricably linked to crude oil exports. It’s very risky indeed to finance development in the long-term, from a volatile revenue source. The Country has no control over either the price or output of Oil, Globally.
He maintained that revenue from Oil should essentially be classified as a windfall that should be deployed to priority projects with perceptible forward and backward linkages. Dr. Enang stressed further, that sub-sectors, including chemicals, pharmaceuticals and Agriculture should form the lynchpin of the State development agenda in the pursuit of diversification of the economy.
He equally stated that the level of consumption in the economy measured by per Capita expenditure of most households remains low, quite below N2,000,000 in a year, thereby posing a low incentive for business expansion, and attributed it in part to the high level of unemployment and low per capita income.
Speaking further, the Ethical Reorientation and Attitudinal Change czar, said that since the State’s fiscal policy is aimed at ensuring a sound budgetary processes including fiscal discipline, allocation efficiency, and high impact spending, it was therefore imperative and pertinent to conclude that the key targets for the Akwa Ibom State Government, from a fiscal perspective will include attainment of a recurrent to capital expenditure ratio of 40:60 and 35:65, by the end of both 2023 and 2024 respectively.
Dr. Wisdom Enang who is known for his massive campaigns for value-driven approach to governance, and the adoption of the right democratic principles and imperatives, suggested other targets the State government should nurture to include: Effective management of personnel and overhead expenditure to create additional fiscal space for capital development; Growing IGR annually by a minimum of 15% in 2023 and 17.5% in 2024; Limiting the acquisition of loans for funding of capital expenditure projects; Increasing the long-term target funding for all recurrent expenditure through revenue of a recurrent nature (IGR, VAT and Non-mineral component of Statutory Allocation); and Prioritizing the completion of ongoing capital projects. The globally respected and internationally sought after Oil and Gas Consultant, further expressed optimism that the incoming government will look into the ideas proffered.
