A consultant, Mr Kolawole Banwo has said facilities in Lagos schools remained dilapidated as a result of poor procurement processes and corrupt contracting of educational projects.
He made this known during two days stakeholders’ forum on Progressive Taxation in Lagos State organised by Human Development Initiatives (HDI) in collaboration with ActionAid Nigeria and the support of NORAD.
Banwo in his presentation centred on Progressive Taxation, Tax Justice and Linking Tax to Education Budget in Lagos State. Saying that Internal Generated Revenue of Lagos State has grown by about 400% since 1999 from N600 million in 1999 to N34 billion in 2018 driven largely by TAX especially Pay as you earn (PAYE) tax.
According to him, more of the revenue should be devoted to providing free, quality and inclusive education especially for marginalized children.
“Lagos is ahead of many states in budgetary allocation to education but remained dilapidated as a result of poor procurement processes and corrupt contracting of educational projects.
He also enlightened the stakeholders on taxation system in Lagos and Nigeria as a whole, laws guiding tax administration, progress and challenges facing taxation in Nigeria.
In his lecture, Samuel Oyenitun a legal officer, Lagos Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) emphasised on tax as the lifeblood of government and no taxpayer should be permitted to escape the payment of tax.
He said the agency’s challenges was to ensure all taxable Lagosians are brought into the tax net.
According to him, most people in the informal sector evade tax which is a form of injustice to responsible citizens that pay their tax.
He applauded HDI for partnership with LIRS and assured participants that their office is open for all to make enquires about taxation.
The Program Officer in charge of the Project Samuel Ajayi earlier in his presentation he pointed out that “Tax Justice & Gender Response Public Services and Breaking the Barriers Project”, is aimed to support targeted efforts to increase the SIZE of both national and states’ budgets through fair tax, increase the SHARE of funds allocated to and spent on free, quality and inclusive education, open up education budget, policies and system for public SCRUTINY, and ensure that the budget, systems and policies are SENSITIVE to the rights and needs of girls and marginalized children.
He said in Lagos States, the Project working in 3 LGAs/LGEAs – Alimosho, Epe and Badagry LGAs/ District 1, District 3 and District 5 respectively.
The participants at the workshop includes Ministry of Education, Education Districts, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of budget and Planning, LIRS and among others.