FIRS/AFROPOLITAN MEDIA trains Kano Journalists On Nigerian Tax Ecosystem

The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and Afropolitan Media Limited hosted a training program for media professionals in Kano State on the Nigerian Tax Ecosystem.

The event took place at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Press Centre, and was attended by a full house of practicing journalists.

The purpose of the workshop was to update the media on new developments in the Nigerian Tax System since the appointment of Mr. Muhammad Nami as the Executive Chairman of FIRS in December 2019 by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The goal was to equip journalists with knowledge to inform the nation, especially the taxpaying public, about tax administration for overall nation-building purposes.

The event also aimed to sensitize the media on new challenges posed by fresh developments to tax organizations in the country and worldwide, and how the Nami reforms at FIRS have surmounted these fresh hurdles to the benefit of taxpayers in Nigeria and the nation.

The workshop was presented in over two sessions of three modules by Dr. Zaharaddeen Salisu Maigoshi, of the Department of Accounting, Bayero University, Kano, and Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN).

Dr. Maigoshi covered the topic, “Understanding the Rudiments and Importance of Taxation in Nigeria” in the morning session, followed by a question-and-answer session between the resource person and the journalists-participants.

After a short break, Dr. Maigoshi delivered two more modules – “FIRS: Roles, Responsibilities and Administration” and “Reforms and Innovations in the FIRS: TaxPromax, Finance Acts, SENTINAL” – followed by another extensive question-and-answer session.

In her opening remarks, Chief Executive Officer, Afropolitan Media Limited, Hajiya Aisha Umar Halilu, stressed the importance of the FIRS and her firm’s partnership with the media in engaging them through the event.

She urged participants to deploy the new knowledge and fresh insights they gained in their reports of the Nigerian Tax System, and to seek clarification from the FIRS in grey areas before filing their reports.

Malam Abbas Ibrahim, the Chairman of the NUJ Kano Council, thanked the FIRS and Afropolitan Media Limited for bringing the workshop to Kano.

The participants pledged to work closely with the FIRS to enlighten the public on the need to pay tax promptly for national development.