Oxfam in Nigeria in collaboration with the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Connected Development, and BudgIT has called on the federal government to prioritize crucial sectors that would reduce the inequality gap and alleviate poverty in the country.
Oxfam made the call yesterday in Abuja, where it presented the 2024 inequality report which highlights the root causes of poverty and inequality gap in Nigeria.
The report comes on the heels of the World Economic Forum holding in Davos Switzerland, bringing together world leaders to discuss and make decision on the state of the world economy to influence leaders on concrete efforts towards reducing inequality.
The report indicates that in Africa, seven richest men own more wealth ($52 billion) than the 700 million people who make up the poorest half of the continent’s population.
It further revealed that Africa’s richest one percent own nearly half of the continent’s total financial wealth. A tax of up to 5 percent on Africa’s super-rich could generate an annual amount of $11.9 billion, nearly enough to pay for the 2023 humanitarian requirements for Eastern and Southern Africa.
The report also revealed that Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest person, holds a “near-monopoly” on cement in Nigeria. He owns Dangote Cement, which has enjoyed some of the world’s highest profit margins on cement (45 percent) while paying a tax rate of 1 percent over 15 years.
In Nigeria, Aliko Dangote owns more wealth than the bottom half of Nigerians (109 million people). Dangote and Abdulsamad Rabiu, the country’s second richest man, have increased their fortunes by 29 percent since 2020, while the bottom 99 percent have become poorer.
The Oxfam country director, Tijani Hamza noted that a dynamic and effective state is the best bulwark against extreme corporate power.
Hamza said that governments should ensure universal provision of healthcare, education and social protection and explore public goods and public options in sectors from energy to transportation.
“Reining in corporate power, including by breaking up monopolies and democratizing patent rules. This also means legislating for living wages, capping CEO pay, and new taxes on the super-rich and corporations, including permanent wealth and excess profit taxes. Oxfam estimates that a wealth tax on the world’s millionaires and billionaires could generate $1.8 trillion a year.
“Reinventing inclusive and sustainable business. Competitive and profitable businesses do not have to be shackled by shareholder greed. Democratically owned businesses better equalize the proceeds of business.
“The administrative suspension placed on the processing of Pioneer Status Incentive (PSI) applications under the purview of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission to allow for a comprehensive review and reform of the incentive regime.
“Sustain effort by the Nigeria Senate’s to amend the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Act towards regulating the processes of granting corporate tax holidays, import duty waivers and investment incentives to investors and businesses in Nigeria in a bid to cut down revenue lose to corporate incentives.
“The process of granting and administering incentives be made public, eliciting wider public discourse on the opportunity cost elements. Tax expenditures process should be subject to parliamentary process and oversight as well as public debate. We also encourage that government should set up a dashboard to make accessible to the public, data and other relevant information on tax incentives and tax expenditures,” he stated.
He said that will strengthen public trust and provide opportunity for increased awareness of these fiscal instruments and urged the National Assembly to call on the federal government to as a matter of urgency publish the tax expenditure report which they are currently compiling as a way of demonstrating its commitment to transparency and accountability in the management of incentives.
