The Regional Working Group on Tax Policy Alternatives (RWOGTAPA) has underscored the need for policy alternatives to bolster more meaningful growth in tax regime.

The group at a two-day regional meeting in Abuja, said that the meeting  became imperative as the tax systems in Ghana and Nigeria had some similar challenges.

The meeting was organised by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) and Public Services International (PSI), both non-gvernmental organisations.

According to the FES Resident Representative in Nigeria, Lennart Oestergaard, countries in Africa struggle to do what is called Domestic Resource Mobilisation (DRM) to achieve sustainable development goals.

Mr Oestergaard said, “This is amid challenges, therefore, the need for investment, infrastructure and public services. Today’s meeting is therefore about raising awareness on the ongoing global tax process and implications for African taxation regimes, to strengthen individual capacity, as well as discuss impacts of this new legislation.

“We at FES have social justice as core topic in our work, and tax questions are always linked to questions about social justice. So, let’s not forget this link between tax questions and political justice. Just know that with FES you have a partner on your side who is really eager to discuss all these issues, where justice will be done”.

Similarly, Regional Secretary, PSI, Africa and Arab region, Daniel Oberko, commended FES’s role in shifting government position on tax issues and the need for an alternative to the current tax regime.

According to him, the role of Nigeria’s trade unions and civil society organisations in the fight against the financial flows cannot be re-emphasised. 

He said, “The working group has opportunity to discuss issues around general economic alternatives for the region of Africa and Arab countries. RWOGTAPA will play critical role, not just in area of tax, whether austerity or trade, because those issues are interlinked and there is strong intersectionality.”

In his remarks, Mr Dayi Damulak, who represented the Federal Ministry of Finance Tax Policy Department, said that recent tax reforms resulted in new tax law due to perceived problems that were no longer attainable globally. 

“The new tax law coming into force on January 1, 2026 will not be circumstantial over time, there are certain categories of workers, classes of salary earners that will be completely exempted from payment of tax. The Nigerian tax regime will continue to be in the interests of the Nigerian taxpayers,” he said.

In the same vein, Principal Revenue Officer, Ghana Revenue Authority, Charles Thompson Jnr, said though the country and Nigeria faced similar challenges, the organisation succeeded in the area of revenue collection. 

According to him, the intervention of government compilers and other enforcement mechanisms that law and revenue administrations imposed helped the authority to achieve its targets consistently.

He stated, “We have challenges when it comes to the collection of VAT; I believe we have similar challenges and we are in the same region, the enforcement of such laws, especially administrative laws, is what has helped us achieve our targets.

“I believe we need to exchange further to look at what they are doing and what we are doing to be able to speak extensively on whatever we can learn from this.”

Highpoint of the event was the virtual presentation on “Understanding Inclusive Framework on the Minimum Tax Rate and its Implications on Nigeria and Ghana, as well as “Reflection on the newly adopted Nigeria Tax Act” by the Senior Advisor, International Taxation of Africa Union, Emmanuel Eze.

There was also a presentation on “Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax: Its Genesis, Content, Purpose and relevance to African countries and its potential visible and invisible barriers.”

(NAN)