Taiwo Oyedele, Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy, Tax Reforms, on Wednesday revealed that the federal government will soon send an ” Emergency Economic Intervention Bill for consideration and passage to the National Assembly
Oyedele stated this in Abuja on Wednesday at the MTN Capital Market Day, at the Transcorp Hilton , Abuja.
Oyedele who spoke on tax reforms as it affects the telecom sector, said “As we speak now, we have a draft of the ” Emergency, Economic Intervention Bill, to amend different laws, including the laws that allow for payment of taxes and levies in Dollars.
Taxes like Petroleum Profits Tax and Companies Income Tax for foreign organizations will be affected by the bill.
” When we were speaking to the CBN on the issue, we discovered that these numbers are not even small, they are in the regions of $3b to $3.5b, annually.
He also revealed that Nigeria’s Constitution is being amended to ensure that shared revenues are tied to responsibilities the various tiers of government perform, ” for which we all have to hold to account”
Responding to questions on unclaimed dividends, he advised the government to use the unclaimed dividend funds to promote the capital market and by extension, economic development. But added that the issue is still being debated.
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For the MSMEs to grow, he said investors should ask the government to remove disincentives to investment, adding, ” The good thing about removing disincentives is that it does not cost the government money, but it saves the private sector loads of headaches and gives them lots of money as well.
“When asking incentives, you are asking the wrong questions. What you need to do is ask the government to remove disincentives. So, a small business owner will not have to pay as many as 43 different taxes.
Oyedele, who also spoke on the quick wins embedded in the ongoing tax reform, assured that the President is already implementing part of the reforms, based on the interim reports submitted about three weeks ago.
” According to him, ” The presidential tax reforms team will be engaging with members of the Federal Executive Council ( FEC), next week Monday to discuss with cabinet, as part of measures to fast track implementation
” In fact, we were supposed to do that last Monday but Mr President is out of the country, so we rescheduled it for next Monday.
” Mr President is already implementing some of our recommendations; some will be implemented by the Ministry of Finance, some by Mr President through an Executive Order, while some will be through the National Assembly.
Olutokun Toriola, the Chief Executive Officer ( CEO) of MTN Nigeria, while speaking on the successes recorded by the company, said the company is excited over the results recorded so far.
He disclosed that Nigeria remains the biggest telecom market in Africa, with over 200 million subscribers, at about 43% penetration, and unique mobile penetration growth.
He noted that mobile data is driving over 40% growth.
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He noted Despite the ongoing economic challenges, the MTN still maintained strong commercial momentum, with data revenue hitting over N749b , following sustained growth opportunities presented by sustained higher demands for data, supported by accelerated 4G and 5G network coverage.
He noted that the MTN remains Nigeria’s leading mobile provider of communication services, with a strong position for long-term growth.
He revealed that the company has remitted over N4 Trillion to the federal government in taxes, as one of the most tax compliance companies in Nigeria.
