By Collins Yakubu-Hammer

A university lecturer, Prof. Godwin Oyedokun, has called on state governments in the country and other stakeholders to support the tax reform of President Bola Tinubu to bring prosperity to Nigeria.

Oyedokun made the call at the 2025 Award of Excellence organised by the Society of Women in Taxation (SWIT), FCT Chapter on Wednesday in Abuja.

Oyedokun, who lectures at the Department of Accounting and Financial Development, Lead City University, Ibadan, said the tax reform initiated by the President was one of the best things that had happened in Nigeria.

“I am not a fan of any government, but when government gets its right, I will say it; and if they do not, I will say it.

“The content of the bill is better than what we have currently. So, I want everybody to support the reform.

“State governments, lower income earner and others will benefit massively from the Tinubu’s tax reform, because it will bring them out of unnecessary taxes, and thus, we no longer need to tax poverty.

“Prosperity will come and government will also gain from it. And you could see incentive for companies, start-up companies, informal sector and entrepreneurs will now be able to do well.

“When it comes to harmonisation of taxes in Nigeria, this bill will ensure that we have it. There will no longer be anything like touting in tax arena.

“Apart from that, all the different pockets of tax law that we have around will now be codified and made as just one textbook where each chapter contains each of the tax laws,” Oyedokun said.

Oyedokun, who was one of the awardees, explained that if the tax reform bill scaled through, it would also make state governments deliver more dividends of democracy to their people.

Meanwhile, the National Coordinator of SWIT, Dr Bosede Ikanoba said the essence of the 2025 Award of Excellence was to recognise the deserving individuals and their contributions to professionalism and SWIT.

“When you give awards and recognition to deserving individuals, you are recognising their contributions for professionalism, their skills, talents, excellence and contributions in making the society greater.

“They’ve given support financially to the society. They’ve contributed to building capacity of our members. And so, they are quite deserving of this award today.

“It’s a good thing because, it will further motivate others, you know, to see that they also do their own bit and contribute to the society,” Ikanoba said.

Also, the Coordinator of SWIT, Abuja Chapter, Mrs Biola Saliu, said the event was to mark the end of her tenure that started about two years ago.

“There is nothing that you can do all alone. There are people that have been there for me, who supported me and who made me to achieve the little that I was able to achieve.

“So, therefore, I decided to recognise them just as it’s being said that when you say thank you to somebody, you have pushed the person to do more for you. So that’s the purpose of organising this event.

“I will advise the person that will take over from me to build on the legacy that has been laid and to make sure that it’s improved upon because there is always room for improvement.

“The purpose of learning is for you to improve on what your teacher has taught you. So, she is supposed to be able to perform better than what I have done,” Saliu said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that about 20 persons bagged the SWIT awards for excellence. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Joe Idika