The Federal Government may impose sanctions on government agencies that refuse sharing data with sister agencies on request. Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reform Committee, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, hinted at the likelihood of sanctions against government agencies hoarding data.
He was responding to a detailed narration by the Executive Secretary of Joint Tax Board, Olusegun Phillip Adesokan, who reeled a frustrating encounter JTB went through with an agency that refused sharing data on request.
The occasion was the first revenue assurance summit with the internal revenue services of all the states of the federation, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) organised by the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) on Tuesday in Abuja.
Taiwo in his remark harped on the importance of data in driving revenue. “We are talking about revenue assurance. We need to bear in mind that even the revenue itself is a means to an end not an end in itself. “It must make meaningful impact on the lives, livelihood and wellbeing of the people for it to make sense.
There could be pain and sacrifices, but it would be short term; medium to long term should benefit us. “Our economy must be designed to be conducive and investment friendly.
Our policy environment must be purposeful and coherent. Let’s not be pulling in different directions- states versus federal or even within federal agencies.
“JTB told me as part of the work we are doing, the number of agencies they were looking for data, you know they were commending the NFIU and we are grateful for the NFIU and the leadership.
A particular agency asked JTB to pay for data. I couldn’t believe it. In the same Nigeria? The government has data and the government is selling data and we say the government does not have revenue.
“How are we supposed to have revenue if we are selling data? So we drafted a law, it is not your data, it is our data, you will give it. In fact, we will give you a deadline of 48 hours if you don’t release data, there will be consequences. “We are criminalising it. Give the data.
We are developing the protocol to ensure that there is integrity, data protection and those stuff is not a problem but give the data. So we are bringing that data for Nigeria”, Taiwo said.
Earlier in a remark by the Chief Executive Officer of NFIU, Mrs. Hafsat Bakari said while NfIU works on tax crimes initially focused on supporting the Federal Inland Revenue Service, the agency took a further step to explore partnerships with sub-national counterparts.
