Monday, July 20, 2026

World Bank tells FG to ‘tax better’ to raise extra N10 trillion

The World Bank says certain revenue reforms over the next three years can raise the tax-to-GDP ratio to about seven per cent and bring in an additional N10 trillion.

• June 25, 2021
Buhari and Osibanjo
President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Osinbajo

The World Bank says certain revenue reforms over the next three years can raise the tax-to-GDP ratio to about seven per cent and bring in an additional N10 trillion.

Rajul Awasthi, a senior public sector specialist at the bank, said this in a ‘Domestic Revenue Mobilisation’ presentation at a virtual media parley in Abuja on Thursday.

He explained that fundamental reform of the tax system was needed to stimulate post-pandemic investment and economic growth in the long term.

According to him, coordinated policy reforms combined with revenue administration enhancements are essential to achieve revenue potential.

“As Nigeria tries to build back better after the COVID-19 crisis, the approach to revenue mobilisation needs to be more strategic. Not just taxing more, but taxing better; not just how much to collect, but how to collect, what to collect, and from whom,” said the World Bank specialist.

CBN Godwin Emefiele (credit: Bloomberg)
CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele (credit: Bloomberg)

He stated that the economy and revenue sources had been further hit hard by COVID-19, and in 2020 Nigeria recorded its deepest quarterly contraction since the 1980s but exited the recession in the fourth quarter of that year.

However, mitigating the impact and laying the foundation for a strong recovery requires several policy responses, including mobilising revenues.

Recommending some measures, he said that managing the COVID-19 pandemic was important while enhancing macroeconomic management to boost investor confidence.

He added that safeguarding and mobilising revenues were necessary but needed to be designed so that investment, growth, and jobs do not suffer.

Also, reprioritising public spending to protect critical development expenditures and supporting economic activity and access to basic services, and providing relief for poor and vulnerable communities were essential.

Finance minister Zainab Ahmed (Credit: Twitter)
Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed (Credit: Twitter)

Mr Awasthi said there were key areas of reform to improve revenue mobilisation as they could raise N4 to N6 trillion. The areas include excise reforms through policy measures, property tax reforms by updating/completing property records and value-added tax (VAT) administration, and plugging compliance gaps.

Others are personal income tax (PIT) revenue-raising measures and access to data and rationalising tax expenditures in corporate income tax (CIT). According to him, revenue mobilisation can be sequenced into the immediate, medium, and long term. 

He also said the government should intensify internally generated revenues (IGR) to improve states’ collection of PIT and other taxes such as the property tax.

Mr Awasthi added that the federal government should address policy and compliance gaps in VAT, pointing out that the country has greater revenue potential from VAT than currently achieved, adding that total additional VAT potential could be N3.1 trillion or more.

He, however, noted that for all tax categories, enhancing data management was essential to develop and maintain robust tax expenditure analysis, adding that these estimates would be needed to understand the fiscal impact. 

We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.

More from Peoples Gazette

farmers

Agriculture

FG tasks ECOWAS on leveraging financing strategies for agroecology

The federal government has urged stakeholders in the agriculture and finance sectors in the West Africa region to leverage financing strategies to enhance agroecology practices

Katsina State

Politics

Katsina youths pledge to deliver over 2 million votes to Atiku

“Katsina State is Atiku’s political base because it is his second home.”

Kaduna State Emergency Management Agency (Credit: KADSEMA)

States

Gas tanker leak contained in Kaduna: KADSEMA

The executive secretary of KADSEMA, Usman Mazadu, said the agency has contained a compressed gas tanker leak in Kaduna South.

Coffins of U.S. servicemen

World

Iran War: Three U.S. servicemen killed

Another American service member has been reported killed by fragments of a downed Iranian drone in northern Iraq, raising the number of U.S. troops killed last week to three.

Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya

Anti-Corruption

NBA president-elect submits self to post-election audit amid fraud, rigging allegations

Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, the president-elect of the Nigerian Bar Association, says she is ready to subject herself to a post-election audit following her victory.

Bank of the Valley, Stearns Bank

Anti-Corruption

Bank CFO jailed 36 months in U.S. prison for fraud scheme

Mr Luneke defrauded Bank of the Valley, obtaining two loans totalling approximately $4,320,000.

Kylian Mbappe

Sport

Mbappe wins historic second World Cup Golden Boot as Spain sweep major individual awards

Mbappe is the first player to win the World Cup Golden Boot twice, having struck eight times to finish top scorer in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Wang Jibing (Global Times)

World

Food delivery rider wins China’s Lu Xun Literature Prize in poetry

A 56-year-old Chinese food courier, Wang Jibing, has been named the winner of China’s Lu Xun Literature Prize in poetry.