Stories by Moses John Abuja —
Th e Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has called on practising journalists to sustain and join the ongoing global campaign against Illicit Financial Flows (IFF) from Africa.
Th e coordinator of NLC tax campaign, Comrade Eustace James, stated this during a OneDay Media Awareness and Sensitisation Workshop, organised for Labour Reporters in Abuja.
He said if not tackled, tax evasion would bring untold hardship and chaos to the continent.
Comrade James said the workshop was aimed at carrying the media partners along on the campaign so as to ventilate same to the public.
He said the consequences of the policies of granting tax havens to foreign investors in Nigeria and other African countries would result in, among other things, a wdespread outbreak of immigration crisis to the Western world.
James further tasked both Western and African governments to work together to curb illicit fi nancial fl ows from Africa to the western world for the good of everyone.
NLC said the Nigerian government in particular, should “aggressively pursue creation and sustainability of a progressive tax base as a sure and steady way of domestic resources mobilisation.
” “Th e tax justice action if pursued would pave way for mass creation of jobs that will provide the opportunity for the expansion of the country’s taxbase.
By this, our government can set the agenda for improving public services delivery and sustainable development.
‘Progressive tax justice policies mean African countries can be fi nancially self-suffi cient and free from aid dependency’.
” While speaking on the fi ndings of African Union High Level Panel on IFF, headed by former South African President Th abo Mbeki, which revealed that over $60billion is lost every year through IFF, he said two-third of the said amount is lost due to manipulation of commercial transactions rather than criminal activity and corruption.
