Don’t burden Nigerians with too many taxes, lecturer advises FG

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NIGERIA: A LECTURER at the Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta in Ogun State, has warned the Federal

Government against putting too much burden on Nigerians with many taxes in

its attempt to look for fund.

Dr. Goke Rauf, who is the Director, Mass Communication Department of the polytechnic, said on Thursday that introducing too much taxes, at this period of economic recession, would overburden the citizens.

The lecturer expressed the views while delivering a lecture entitled “Nigeria Democracy: An Appraisal of Governance since 1999” at this year’s Press Week of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Ogun State Council held in Abeokuta, the state capital.

Rauf stressed at the event where one minute silence was observed in memory of the former chairman of state council of the NUJ, Deji Odunlami, who died 10 years ago, that the caution became necessary in view of the current economic hardship being faced by many Nigerians.

He maintained that the government of President Muhammadu Buhari should resist the temptation of requesting more taxes from the people.

Rauf said: “I am not saying that people should not pay taxes, but this is not the time to overburden the people with too many taxes.”

The guest lecturer stressed the need to diversify from oil to other sectors, maintaining that agriculture would be major sector to diversify the economy.

Rauf, a participant on the famous social media, Penpushing, frown at the hurried move by the federal government to diversify the economy from oil to other sectors.

He counselled that such step requires a serious plan of actions before it would yield the desired meaningful results.

The former Chairman of NUJ in Ogun State, Eddy Aina, who also spoke on challenges facing the country, said that the time had come for the political class to stop trivializing governance.

Aina said that government should rather make the ordinary citizens the centre stage of their policy making process in order to achieve the much desired turn around in every sector of human endeavours.

The former Director of the National Broadcasting Corporation and a participant on Penpushing also urged leaders to be mindful of the governed and do the needful to right the wrong in all sectors.