BY EMEKA EJERE
Preparations have reached advanced stage for a national tax conference that will see experts gather in Lagos to brainstorm on how best to transform the nation’s tax system for sustainable development.
A statement by Okwudili Ijezie & Co. (Chartered Accountants), organizers of the event, indicates that the conference with the theme, “Nigeria Tax Reform: Challenges & Prospects”, will hold on Tuesday, October 10, 2023, at Pholax Hotel & Suites, Anthony Village, Lagos, from 9: 00 am to 4 : 00 pm.
While Mr. Kenneth Odusanya, FCA, Managing Partner, Kenneth Odusanya & Co. (Chartered Accountants), will chair the conference, Chief Blakey Ijezie, FCA. Managing Partner, Okwudili Ijezie & Co. (Chartered Accountants), who doubles as the host, will deliver the keynote speech.
The guest speakers include: Mr. Bisi Sanda, FCA, former Senior Partner, Ernst & Young (Chartered Accountants and Professor Friday Ndubuisi, pioneer & immediate Past Vice Chancellor, Christopher University, Mowe, Ogun State;
Others are, Dr. Tunji Adeniyi, former Hon. Commissioner of Finance, Budget & Economic Planning, Ekiti State and Pastor Felix Jarikre, a Public Affairs Analyst.
Recently, President Bola Tinubu, constituted the Tax Reform Committee headed by Taiwo Oyedele, mainly “to transform the tax system to support sustainable development and achieve a minimum of 18 percent tax-to-GDP ratio within the next 3 years without stifling investment or economic growth.”
Currently, Nigeria has one of the lowest tax collection rates in the world at approximately 10.8 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), though tax receipts did rise by 56 percent in 2022 to a record 10 trillion naira ($13bn).
Ijezie has been a frontline advocate of changing the narrative by improving the nation’s tax system.
Ahead of the commencement of implementation of the Finance Act 2019, his firm of chartered accountants and tax practitioners organised a two-day seminar in January 2020, to help educate Nigerians on the new law.
The seminar, with the theme, “Finance Act 2019: Underlying Challenges and Procedures to Counter Such Challenges”, at Sheraton Lagos Hotel, Ikeja, had Dame Olajumoke Simplice, then President/Chairman of Council, Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN) as the keynote speaker and Chief Preye Ogriki, pioneer Commissioner for Finance and Economic Planning, Bayelsa State, as the chairman, among other eggheads.
