Director of the Intergovernmental Group of Twenty-Four on International Monetary Affairs and Development, Iyabo Masha, has said the new tax laws will support Nigeria’s transition into a modern and more efficient economy.
Masha, who is the first African to occupy the position since the establishment of the G- 24 over five decades ago, spoke at a press conference in Abuja ahead of the meeting of the group.
She explained that tax and domestic resource mobilisation remained central to development, stressing that Nigeria’s reform drive could deepen formalisation and strengthen public finances over time.
“Tax and domestic resource mobilisation are fundamental to economic development,” she said, noting that taxation enables governments to provide infrastructure, education, healthcare, and maintain law and order.
According to her, governments generally finance development through taxation, borrowing, or asset sales, but “out of all of these, taxation is the most efficient one that leads to the least macroeconomic destabilisation”.
Masha observed that developing countries often recorded weak tax mobilisation, “in some cases as low as seven per cent of GDP”, compared to others that generate “25, 30 per cent of GDP”.
Speaking on Nigeria’s reforms, the group director added that in her previous role, she had examined the country’s tax framework and found it “very fragmented”, with inadequate implementation contributing to low revenue mobilisation.