Abass speaks on VAT collection in Nigeria, says it is lowest in Africa

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas Tajudeen, has decried that Nigeria’s efficiency in collecting Value Added Tax, VAT, was the lowest among its African peers, indicating significant inefficiencies in its tax system.

He, therefore, expressed the readiness of the 10th House to aid the economic policies and programmes of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration.

This, Speaker Abbas noted, includes engagement with stakeholders on laws governing finance, tax, and oil sub-sectors of the economy, with the aim of causing positive reforms.

He stated this in Abuja yesterday while delivering his keynote address at the opening of a two-day retreat for members of the House.

The legislative retreat on economic transformation and development was organised by the House, in collaboration with the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, and the Konrad Adenauer-Stiftung Foundation, KAS.

Speaker Abbas noted that the House made a deliberate decision to focus on tax reforms and modernisation as well as a review of the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Reform Act (2021).

“The overarching objective is to discuss and identify concrete legislative strategies for economic transformation,” he said.

The speaker expressed pleasure that the legislative retreat was taking place “at a point in our nation’s economic landscape when the current administration is diligently implementing policies and initiatives to steer our economy towards recovery, growth, and sustainable development.”