In all of history, there has never been a nation without taxation. Even in early Jewish history there was in fact some Bible translators and commentators who classified tithes as a form of taxation.
The hysteria about the new tax system should be directed to the proper focus to address the following fundamental concerns:
– The tax system MUST BE FAIR
– The system of collection must be TRANSPARENT and systems must be put in place to make the COLLECTORS ACCOUNTABLE
– the proceeds of the tax collected MUST be JUDICIOUSLY and ACCOUNTABLY used to produce services for the TAX PAYERS
If all these critical factors are ensured, tax paid is an investment in the life of the payer for which he/she will collect dividends in the form of good governance and better standard of living
PROBLEM:
Has the system been perfectly implemented and aligned in any nation in history?
ANSWER
Probably not. Some nations have advanced more than others. The US, Sweden, Switzerland, Norway, Japan and a few others, have advanced a lot in that direction but none has achieved perfection
WHY?
Any system designed by an imperfect man cannot be perfect. Most observers and commentators on tax systems are themselves ignorant of what they are talking about; they lack the tools and capacity to properly analyze tax ststems so a lot of what they say is unguided and therefore thrash. Finally, let’s be honest; less than 0.01% of tax payers are happy to pay tax. All over the world people HATE to pay tax. That is why there has NEVER been any tax system that did not receive grumbling and criticism from tax payers. The sole reaction is self. Nobody wants anybody to take what he has from him/her. It is human nature to believe that what they have is not enough and any system to take away from what they have is resisted. – NAME: SELFISHNESS AND EVERYONE IS GUILTY
LOGISTICS. The amount of information about the economy and differentiation in the capacities of the population needed to draw a perfectly fair taxation system is so huge that hardly any country has the capacity to gather, analyse, synthesize and organise it into a concrete whole
CORRUPTION. No one in his right mind wants to pay tax into a system where money is taken from some people to enrich other people without justifiable cause. In a system of open and rapacious corruption where that tax payers see tax collectors, tax administrators and government officials getting fat from other peoples’ money and where the tax payer does not smell any return benefit from his/her investment.
NOBODY CAN BLAME PEOPLE FOR THEIR RELUCTANCE TO PAY AND THEIR SPIRITED EFFORT TO DODGE TAX PAYMENT.
But who can blame them? Why should a citizen be asked to pay tax when 0.001% of the population get themselves into the industry of politics (politicians and the civil service corruption infrastructure that services them). – they do no work that contributes to the economy. Yet they amass for themselves and families fully 50% of the wealth that the country produces. They do not pay tax. They do not contribute. All they do is take. Who will be happy to pay tax to satisfy the godless avarice of the president, president’s wife and children, ministers, permanent secretaries, retinue of aides, governors, governors’ wives and children, commissioners, accountant generals and auditor generals, senate president, senate committee chairmen and members, speaker of the house, house committee chairmen and members, LGA chairmen and DLGs. The veil must not be lifted from the lid of services providers- the police, customs, immigration, judiciary, secret services – etc who are supposed to serve but who have the sole purpose of serving themselves- if the lid is lifted the nation will suffocate from the odour of graft and self gorging into the nation’s wealth. If the people were to ask, “where is our wealth?”. It is in the hands of these few!! So why will people be enthusiastic in paying taxes which will be stolen by a few!
STOP PRESS! STOP PRESS!
Are the officials listed and more our only headache in fixing the tax problem in Nigeria? My answer is NO
WHY?
In all our criticism of politicians and government officials, IS THE POT NOT CALLING THE KETTLE BLACK?
There is a major fact we must understand. ALL THE POLITICIANS AND GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS WE BERATE FOR ODIOUS CORRUPTION ARE NIGERIANS. ALLIENS ARE NOT RULING US. CORRUPT AND BAD LEADERS COME FROM A CORRUPT AND BAD SOCIETY:
– Stealing blind is happening across the society- the only difference is the scale of what is available to steal.
– Is there no monumental fraud in the BANKING SYSTEM, in PRIVATE AND QOUTED COMPANIES, In TRADE UNIONS, among traders, taxpayers drivers, Okara business, in UNIVERSITIES, in HOSPITAL MANAGEMENT, COLLEGES, POLYTECHNICS, even SECONDARY SCHOOLS, in CHURCHES AND CHRISTIAN ORGANISATIONS, in MOSQUES AND MUSLIM ORGANIZATIONS?
– Name it – in every organization where there is the slightest opportunity, nigerians will seize it, steal and cheat without conscience!
– So, who are we to criticize politicians as the only bad eggs in the society? They come out of a society that has lost the values of truth, honesty, fairness, justice, contentment with what you have, consideration for your fellow men, fear of god and the certainty that whatever you do, you can’t get away with it because one way or the other, whether you like it or not god will hold you to account, the rule of law. We have taken up the garment of avarice, selfishness, absence of love for the neighbour, impunity, vain gloriousness, love of wealth and position as if that is what matters in life. We believe trumpian philosophy that might is right and accountability is outdated
Because of the above, by the time a Nigerian becomes a politician and gets to an elected or appointed office, ITS TOO LATE TO TALK OF CHANGE. You are crying over spoilt milk. Nothing can be done. He has been forged through a twisted system already! Same with any position of influence in any sector. The system produces the actors.
To buttress the narrative, how many Nigerians will say they don’t want to get there and take their own share? If politicians give money to people to buy votes, how many will refuse? How many INEC officials, permanent or adhoc will refuse money to change votes? How many policemen, DSS, soldiers etc will refuse money and instead insist that the right thing be done?
Let’s use one example to describe the Nigerian situation. Recently, a group of Nigerian leaders banded together and formed ADC ostensibly to save Nigeria and Nigerians from the filthy APC people. You are bound to laugh out loud about the hypocrisy. Look at the leadership of ADC. Which of them had not been given the opportunity of one office or the other in the past? They looted, oppressed, stole etc. In what way did they make Nigeria or their states better than under the APC? APC said they were going to clean up the mess of PDP. They ended it with a garments of feaces and putrifying decay smelling all over them. Is anyone in ADC wearing a cleaner, less smelly garment than anyone in APC or PDP? What we are saying is that there is no saviour among them (ADC, APC and PDP – no saviour there)
Our problem is bigger than the new tax system. Many shouting about the new tax system have logs in their eyes trying to pick specks in others’ eyes.
The critical difference between the old and new Tax Regimes are the ENFORCEMENT MECHANISMS AND BLOCKING OF SOME LOOPHOLES. The tax rates are not far apart. Put the two side by side
The violent reactions come from two reasons:
1. As we have noted above, nobody is enthusiastic in paying tax in an unjust system where the tax paid will enrich an only a few.
2. The nature of Nigeria and Nigerians. Nobody in Nigeria is satisfied with his wealth of earning level – even the billionaires. So, to ask them to give up part of what they have causes immense griping. Let’s not deceive ourselves, Nigerians love everything given to them free. They certainly DO NOT LIKE TO PAY FOR ANY SERVICE. A few weeks ago, at the huge petrol station near MBORA Estate and in front of NCC MBORA ANNEX in Abuja, a well dressed man with a big modern car, bought petrol (N42,000). His ATM card declined payment twice. Just in case the problem was with the PoS, the young Salesgirl asked permission to collect another PoS machine from a colleague nearby. As she moved to do that, the man zoomed away at high speed without paying. The young girl was left to carry the can. If the man does not go back to pay the money to that poor girl, AS THE LORD GOD WHO MADE HEAVEN AND EARTH LIVES, HE WILL ENCOUNTER CATASTROPHIC LOSSES AND DISASTER THAT HE WILL REGRET FOR THE REST OF A MISERABLE LIFE. This is just an example of the valueless state the Nigerian Society has descended to. How many care now about personal honesty? Most Nigerians love to enjoy services but refused to pay for them. Hundreds of thousands are still bypassing Meter connections to use free electricity today. Nigerians will not pay for water bills. In whatever situation where Nigerians can avoid payment for any services they enjoy, they will take that route! I heard a graduate on a TV show who said since Nigeria has petroleum resources, petrol, diesel and kerosene should be given free to Nigerians. An attempt by the moderator to educate him failed, BUT THAT IS THE ATTITUDE OF NIGERIANS TO ALL THEIR SERVICE PROVIDERS. THEY PAY ONLY WHEN THEY CANNOT AVOID PAYING.
Nigerians don’t even like to pay debts. They make the most amazing pitch to borrow but many lack the urgency to pay. They don’t feel bound to pay. Have you heard of a man accosted by a lender in public because the borrower had been avoiding him. The borrower redponded, “Do I know you? See me see trouble o. The man is embarrassing me”. A study in 2023 showed that in Nigeria, the Ibos are at the front and the Yoruba in far second in rates of tenant default in the payment of rents. This study is real. Nigerians default in debt repayment than any other country in the world and MOST ARE WILLFUL! INTENTIONAL
What greater evidence of a society in complete dysfunctional state do we need than the way Nigerians drive? Disregard for law and enthronement of personal will is evident in the society, i.e: anarchy/survival of the fittest. How on earth can such a society produce good leaders. It is a society on a slippery road to implosion
Let me say this in conclusion.
A. The Nigerian value system is broken. Everybody cuts corners. No more right or wrong considerations! The youth of today are terrifying in the complete loss of a moral compass. They learnt my from those before them before the internet and Google age delivered the coup de grace and made a new “get it now, by whatever method” syndrome for their guide!
B. It is not right to blame the ills of the society on politicians and office holders alone. The citizens are culpable too. The politicians and office holders simply reflect the society that raised them because they are not from the moon. People who criticise and abuse them are hypocrites. People criticise and demonise every government, promising to do better. But they get there and do worse. Those in opposition to any government cry out because they are not there to chop their own, so every government is worse than the previous one!
Any hope?
None that I can see. You cannot clean dirt with dirty water. The Nigerian system is so rigged that no honest man can get there and effect a change. We respect Jesus Christ and Mohammed. It is accepted that either of them can turn Nigeria around for the better. I don’t swear, but I affirm on my life that neither Jesus Christ nor Mohammed can win the presidential ticket of any party in Nigeria! The system is so dirty, so rigged and so corrupt that the values of Jesus and Mohammed will not be able to shine through the darkness!
WAY FORWARD
There are two major options if tge Contraption we call Nigeria were to survive. People know the problems but are unwilling to call a spade a spade. It’s either they are benefitting from the ROT and INSTABILITY or they are AFRAID TO CONFRONT THE FOLLOWING TRUTH:
1. THE SOCIETY: The society needs a total reset – in values, in behavioural systems, in work and reward ethics. In respect for rule of law, in attitude to money and wealth- some tribes have money as their primary god while most venerate wealth and status instead of respect for human beings for who they really are – total societal reorientation. This is the oil that will lubricate politics, relationships and processes.
METHOD: The present political system nigeria runs can never reform itself, it has no capacity to do so. It has run on a slippery slope since 1914 and is headed for crash. Anybody who cannot see that is bat (not Bola Ahmed Tinubu but real BAT) blind. Only a shock treatment that will make Nigerians confront their demon and see that they are headed for the abyss. Nigerians will not change course. Forced change and reset is a major option. Who will bell the cat??????????
2. Nigeria was not put together to survive in the first instance. Irreconcilable parts with different religions, tribes, sub-tribes, cultures, worldviews, development pathways, values, economy types, etc were cobbled together without consultations by a totally selfish foreign colonial power that did not understand the complexities of the groups they were putting together. They put them together for the benefit of the various ethnic nationalities but to satisfy their own avarice. In 1914, they forced a marriage of convenience.
After 125 years, it is clear to anybody with any atom of perception that the marriage with the amalgamation of so many elements into one country is not working. Religion is not letting it work. Tribal alliances are not letting it work. Different beliefs and attitude to women, to life, to death, to justice to interpersonal relationships are not allowing it to work. Can’t we see? In 125 years the most solid feature of our relationships is competition, crises. Quarreling, tension and animosity. Nigerians cannot agree on anything. In fact there are different definitions of everything depending on which religion or tribe or section is defining it. Only those who are benefitting, disproportionately from the existing situation are shouting “one nigeria”. It has always been so. In the last ten years people of a particular religion have unleashed terror on the land leading to the slaughter of thousands of citizens – Christian, Muslim and even those who don’t believe in god. The truth that all Nigerians are sure of but too hypocritical to face is this: all, all, all the terrorist groups operating in Nigeria are Islamic and they are all northern Nigeria based!!! Christians and Muslims are being killed but who is doing the killing??? Muslims of course yet many Muslims leaders in the north are quiet or even protecting their brother Muslim killers. How can a country continue to be one and thrive in these circumstances????
Facing this situation as described above, the only sensible thing is to peacefully allow those who think they can stay together to separate and live on their own. Yoruba people of Oduduwa descent have a better chance of living together peacefully. Ibos have clearly said that they have a better and more peaceful development path in Biafra. Sharia states don’t need Nigeria. They can form their own nation where they won’t need to interact with infidels. May be by that they will have no need for terrorists any longer. Christian minority tribes in those areas can coalesce into a state of their own. Muslims and Christians have no problem living together in the south and most parts if the Middle belt. Those Muslims who demonstrate over and over that infidels pollute tge land should be allowed to form a nation of their own. Many tribes in Nigeria were forcibly severed from their majority tribes and attached to where they don’t belong. They long for freedom to rejoin their kith and kin or align according to their own choice. Suggesting a mutually agreed peaceful dissolution of Nigeria is not treason. It is a solution. A union of strife, unending bloodshed, inequality and unending instability dors no one no good. Forcing people to be together is a disservice and dishonour to humanity. It makes no sense. It does not allow development. Is it any wonder that Nigeria has not developed? It can’t.
So, free the people! Let those who want to associate together firm their own country. We don’t need to fight over that if it is the happiness of everybody we are concerned about.
The British are not our gods. Their decision of 1914 was not made by our god! It is not even the law of Persia that cannot be altered. It is now to the knowledge of everybody that the British believed that the north was easier to manipulate than the east and west. It was therefore a deliberate policy of the British to create the north so big that it will forever dominate Nigeria. Through the north the British would continue to be the colonial master of Nigeria. Why are we so poor in morals that we are not questioning Britain’s alien definition of who we are and who we should be? As long as we continue to accept that only what the British thought was good for us is forever what is good for us, we are yet slaves without the brains of even apes!!!!
– Dr. Oluwayomi D. Atte, a former University Don and Governorship Aspirant, writes from Abuja.
