Nigeria’s Board targets revenue to GDP ratio of 15-20%

Nigeria’s Joint Tax Board (JTB) says it is targeting to attain Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio of 15 to 20 per cent in 2019.
Mr Oseni Elamah, the Executive Secretary of the board, said in Abuja that the board was committed to and working with State Board of Internal Revenue Service (SBIRS) in the 36 states and Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) in achieving that.
He said that the board would consolidate on the IGR reform being carried out by the JTB in ensuring a robust revenue generation for the country.
According to him, the board is planning more awareness creation this year in ensuring an increase in voluntary compliance from tax payers.
Meanwhile, the JTB scribe also disclosed that the board is playing significant roles to ensuring that some State Revenue Services had autonomy and operate without any interference from any quarter.
He stated that States Internally Generated Revenue (SIGR) reform had been initiated in collaboration with Nigeria Governors Forum to address some of the challenges confronting some SBIRS.
Elamah noted that the board would continue to engage governors of selected states experiencing constrains in optimising their revenue administration capacity.
He explained that the initiative was aimed at espousing the need to adopt and implement certain key initiatives to drive reforms in the revenue administration framework for growth and sustainability.
The secretary disclosed that the board had reached advanced stages in the consolidation of the taxpayers’ database in the country.
According to him, the initiatives are expected to expand the existing tax payers base which implies more potential tax payers in the respective tax nets of the various SBIRS.