By Perpetua Onuegbu
Some civil society organisations (CSOs) have advocated for a digital tax administration system to address the urgent financing needs of developing countries.
They CSOs made the call at a news conference tagged: Financing for Development in Nigeria: Sectoral Context and Insights for the Fourth International Conference on Finance for Development, on Tuesday in Abuja.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the conference was ahead of the upcoming UN Financing for Development Summit scheduled for Spain.
The Executive Director, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Mr Auwal Rafsanjani, reading from a document which presented Nigeria’s position on financing for development, outlined the country’s development financing challenges and the sectoral gaps.
According to him, the report showed that Nigeria is facing a multi-dimensional financing gap, driven by under-performing domestic resource mobilisation, inequitable global financial rules and increasing vulnerability to climate change.
“Education, health, agriculture and climate resilience remain critically under-funded, with education spending falling below UNESCO benchmarks and health expenditure still under four per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
“Nigeria’s debt service ratio now exceeds 70 per cent of revenue, while over $18 billion is lost annually to illicit financial flows, further constraining investment in social sectors.
“The report also emphasises that without fairer global financial architecture and local development, outcomes remain out of reach,” Rafsanjani said.
He, therefore, recommended an actionable plan that included a campaign for digital tax administration system and information to enhance fair taxes.
“We must remove non-tariff barriers, simplify cross-border trade processes and upgrade our industrial capacity to ensure that trade becomes a key driver of development and revenue generation.
“Industrialisation must become the heart of our economic transformation agenda,” he said.
He noted that the persistent and widening gaps in health, education, agriculture, water, and security sectors were pivotal to any meaningful development agenda.
“Without decisive and deliberate efforts to bridge these financing gaps, both at the national and sub-national levels, we will continue to fall behind.
“Most Nigerian states do not have active, measurable development blueprints. This makes it difficult to assess progress, correct failures or attract meaningful investment,” he stated.
Rafsanjani, who said that the country’s financing challenges were rooted in corruption, appealed to the Inspector-General Police to stop extortion of Nigerians by police officers.
He also urged the IG-P to restore the dignity and integrity of police officers by ensuring proper recruitment process and that officers were posted to ungoverned spaces, not to celebrities and wealthy individuals.
Also speaking, Hamzat Lawal, Founder, Connected Development (CODE), called for stronger civil society engagements.
Lawal said that the upcoming conference would present an opportunity to reshape the international financing system and unlock the investments required for a just and resilient future.
The Country Director, Oxfam in Nigeria, Mr John Makina, called for the launching of public campaigns and legal action on illicit financial flows (IFFs) and asset recovery on Nigeria.
He also recommended the creation of a state-level CSO consortium to co-lead the financing for development dialogue.
Makina, represented by Mr Henry Ushie, Senior Programme Officer, Oxfam, stressed the need to support campaign for budget tagging for climate finance and SDG financing at global forums.
Mrs Rose Keffas, Special Assistant to the President on SDGs, urged the international community to prioritise loss and damage financing.
NAN reports that the call for a global action plan was ahead of the UN financing for development conference holding on June 3 in Seville, Spain, under the auspices of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. (NAN)
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