From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja
The Joint Tax Board (JTB), the apex body for tax authorities in Nigeria, has commenced training its employees for the full digitalisation of the nation’s tax system.
Speaking on recently at a staff retreat in Abuja, JTB Secretary, Mr. Olusegun Adesokan, emphasised the significance of getting staff members ready for the current and evolving tax environment.
According to Adesokan, the organisation is set to summit some of its reports to the presidency soon and that one of its major advocacies is for a total digitalisation of tax administration for effectiveness.
He added that another goal of the retreat was for the JTB Secretariat staff to fully imbibe the culture of collaboration and innovation, to enable full understanding of their role under the emerging dispensation.
He said: “One of the things we have realised is that we need to retrain and re-culture our staff to prepare for the new and emerging tax landscape. Because this committee, and the Tax Presidential Committee will be submitting some its report very soon, and this committee is advocating for a total digitalization of tax administration in Nigeria.
“The Secretariat, which serves as a hub for major federal and sub-national revenue authorities, needs to be prepared for the task ahead. One of the things the committee is also doing is to reposition and strengthen the trained tax board. We do not have to wait till the reforms have been implemented before we prepare ourselves for the emerging trends.
“So that is why we are here, to deliberate and see how we can further upskill ourselves and further prepare ourselves for what is to come. We have been engaging the sub-nationals and their response has been very good.
“Why do you want to digitalise? Number one, it is going to help you optimize your revenue generation ability. There is no sub-national revenue authority that does not want to generate more. And bear in mind the fact that the focus of the national and sub-national governments now is to look inwards for more revenue and reduce dependence on borrowing.
“So how do you generate more revenue internally or look inwards for more revenue? Optimizing your ability to generate revenue within your own space. So at the joint task force, we have been engaging the different state revenue authorities on how we can support them to automate their processes so they can deliver more to the citizenry of the rest of the states.
“Because when the state government has more revenue, it can do more. It can fund education more. It can provide better healthcare. It can provide better routes.It can provide security for the people.
“So we have been engaging them in organising training sessions. We have also been looking at how we can support them in bespoke areas because we find that the sub-national authorities have different needs in terms of technology.
“It varies from one sub-national authority to the other. So we will be looking at how we can play and support them in order to make whatever solution we are providing address their bespoke needs.”