Ex-CITN President Advocates Fiscal Federalism

A former President of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN), Mr Kunle Quadri, has recommended the adoption of fiscal federalism for Nigeria to harness its abundant natural resources.

Quadri told The Tide in Lagos that fiscal federalism would enable each state in the federation to exploit its resources for optimal development.

He said that the gesture would also make the states autonomous in terms of generating revenue through taxation without interference from the federal level.

“We have a lot of potential in this country and the only way to adequately harness the potential is to adopt fiscal federalism.

“Fiscal federalism will enhance growth because each state will strive to exploit its natural resources for its development and remit some percentage to the Federal Government.’’

The former CITN boss said that fiscal federation would encourage diversification of the economy and reduce the over-dependence on crude oil.

Quadri said that the number of state in the country would not matter, provided the states were economically viable.

“If we have 70 states, there is no problem but those states must be viable.

“One state may want to produce electricity from whatever resources it has, another may want to improve on security. So, there will be innovations and competition in the economy.”

Quadri said that fiscal federalism would reduce the workload on the Federal Government and enable it channel its resources into development of capital projects for rapid economic growth.