Economy

Africa Needs Stronger Tax, Trade Laws—Experts

Published

9 years ago

15/10/2017

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

Experts have advised African leaders to come up with stronger tax laws and trade treaties in order to block huge amount of money lost to weak tax laws and unfair trade treaties.

At the Pan-African Conference on Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) from Africa organised by Tax Justice Network Africa (TJNA) in Nairobi, Kenya, speakers agreed that a lot of funds have been lost to weak tax laws and trade treaties and that African countries must begin a holistic review of all trade and tax laws to address this.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), over $50 billion has been lost to multinationals who take advantage of weak tax laws and unfair trade treaties.

In an interview with NAN on the sidelines of the conference, Mr Jason Braganza, Deputy Executive Director, TJNA said Africa was yet to ascertain the real amount being lost to IFFs as the quoted $50 billion was just a fraction of the entire sum.

He said that the conference was part of efforts to broaden Africa’s approach at defining and calculating illicit financial flows with a view to stopping them.

Mr Braganza said that there were a number of ways through which multinational companies cheated African countries, taking advantage of weak laws and policies without breaking them.

“When we talk about broadening the definition, what we mean is the need to come up with an approach that includes aggressive tax planning by high net worth individuals as well as big multinational corporations who engage in harmful tax practices in order to maximise their profits.

“They take advantage of weak tax policies and tax laws in many African countries, which make the countries vulnerable to these multinationals who are able to manipulate the laws without breaking them.

“Therefore taking away the profits from where they are generated and moved to other tax jurisdictions like offshore tax havens where there is high level of secrecy and tax laws are in favour of multinationals.

“The way businesses conduct their activities, the international financial architecture is very fractured, fractured in the sense that the complexity of operating tools and models for business transactions means that one single business can have over 100 subsidiaries or special purpose vehicles.

“This sort of arrangement provides them with the platform to hide or not fully reveal the kind of activities they have been undertaking, the kind of incomes they are making.

“They are able to hide what they are supposed to be paying to government, this is a big problem,” he said.

Mr Braganza said the illicit ways high net worth individuals and corporations were exploiting weak existing laws, policies and legislation was having a detrimental impact on government ability to collect revenue.

He said also that it significantly impacted on government’s ability to implement development projects.

He therefore advised African countries to review their laws to check such excesses by multinationals.

Mr Braganza said also that there were weak laws that allowed multinationals to trade within themselves and either charge lower or higher rates to evade tax liability.

He said that the law review should also include transparency in transactions and audit reports adding that African countries must collaborate to check the activities of these companies.

He also called for review of all trade treaties especially those entered into for decades and were not beneficial to Africa but to the western nations.

“There are a number of laws, policies and strategies that need to be strengthened in order to avoid and close these loops.

“In Uganda for instance, the government has taken the decision to suspend the negotiation of new treaties pending a review of all existing treaties to understand what exactly is contained in these treaties.

“You can go even in the case of Kenya, there are treaties that dates back to the 70s that have never been analysed for people to understand what the country has signed itself up for.

“The first step is to really appreciate that some of the treaties that were signed several decades ago are harmful and detrimental to the economies.

“The second point is for members of parliament to get involved in this conversation and be part of the negotiation process that governments enter into and not leave it only to technocrats or bureaucrats.

“This is because the lawmakers are the ones who pass laws that have significant impact on how a government or an economy can run,” he said.

Mr Braganza also called on African government to show more political commitments to implement recommendations that had already been made on these issues.

“The high level panel is a good example, they have made very good set of recommendations that can actually help African governments to try and stop IFFs, to better improve the way they negotiate treaties.

“The African Tax Administrative Forum (ATAF) is another platform where governments should sign on, because ATAF is responsible and involved in developing legislation and policy guidelines for Africa perspective.

“So we advise that African countries review all trade treaties but most importantly, implement the recommendations that they have signed up to.

“There is a charter that all heads of state of AU have signed up to, committing themselves to working with their members of parliament to try and curb IFFs,” he said.

Mr Braganza said that TJNA had also been engaging parliaments from different African countries to build their skills to understand the technicality of some of these issues so as to inform their law making process.

He added that TJNA had a specific programme, African Parliamentary Network on Illicit Financial Flows and Tax which was dedicated to working with lawmakers across the continent.

Economy

NRS Launches Unified Tax ID System

Published

2 hours ago

19/05/2026

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS) has unveiled a unified Taxpayer Identification (Tax ID) system for all taxable persons across the country as part of efforts to strengthen tax administration and improve transparency.

The agency announced the development in a public notice issued jointly with the Joint Revenue Board (JRB) on Monday.

According to the notice, the initiative is backed by Sections 6, 7, and 8 of the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, 2025, which mandate every taxable person in Nigeria to obtain a Tax ID, in a wider move to expand the country’s tax base.

The NRS said the new framework is designed to create a centralised and harmonised taxpayer database that would enhance interactions between taxpayers and revenue authorities at both federal and sub-national levels.

“The Tax ID will serve as a single, unified identity for all taxpayers, enabling seamless interaction with tax authorities at both federal and sub-national levels. It is designed to consolidate taxpayer records, eliminate duplication, and ensure more efficient management of tax-related information,” the agency stated.

The revenue agency explained that the new system would simplify tax compliance procedures, including taxpayer registration, filing of returns, and payment processes.

According to the NRS, the framework is also expected to improve accountability and reduce leakages in tax collection by creating better visibility and tracking of taxpayer information nationwide.

“The initiative will simplify tax compliance processes, including registration, tax filing, and payment procedures. The system will improve transparency by enabling better visibility and tracking of taxpayer records while reducing leakages and improving accountability in tax collection. The framework will also harmonise taxpayer information across all levels of government,” the notice added.

The agency further disclosed that the new Tax ID system would replace the existing Tax Identification Number (TIN) Validation API currently used by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), financial institutions, and other organisations for taxpayer verification.

Economy

OTC Securities Exchange Falls 1.31% as Key Stocks Decline

Published

5 hours ago

19/05/2026

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

Three bellwether stocks weakened the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 1.31 per cent on Monday, May 18.

This brought the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) by 54.71 points to 4,133.70 points from 4,188.41 points, and shrank the market capitalisation by N32.73 billion to N2.473 trillion from N2.506 trillion.

Yesterday, FrieslandCampina Wamco Plc contracted by N12.45 to sell at N146.55 per share compared with last Friday’s closing price of N159.00 per share, Central Securities and Clearing System (CSCS) Plc declined by N2.34 to N70.00 per unit from N72.34 per unit, and NASD Plc lost 50 Kobo to trade at N34.50 per share versus N35.00 per share.

The trio overpowered the N5.56 gained Newrest Asl Plc. This stock ended the trading session at N61.15 per unit, in contrast to the previous session’s N55.59 per unit.

During the trading day, the volume of securities traded by investors slid by 56.1 per cent to 514,142 units from 1.2 million units, and the value of securities dropped 29.8 per cent to close at N17.4 million versus N29.8 million, while the number of deals jumped 12.5 per cent to 27 deals from 24 deals.

Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units sold for N8.4 billion, followed by CSCS Plc with 60.8 million units exchanged for N4.1 billion, and Okitipupa Plc with 27.9 million units traded for N1.9 billion.

GNI Plc also ended the day as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, trailed by Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units valued at N415.7 million, and Infrastructure Guarantee Credit Plc with 400 million units transacted for N1.2 billion.

Economy

FX Pressure Pushes Naira Lower to N1,373/$1 at Official Market

Published

5 hours ago

19/05/2026

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

It was a horrible day for the Nigerian Naira in the different segments of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Monday, May 15, as its value further weakened against the United States Dollar.

In the black market window, the Naira lost N5 against the Dollar yesterday to sell for N1,390/$1 compared with the previous value of N1,385/$1, but at the GTBank forex counter, it remained unchanged at N1,383/$1.

In the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX), the Nigerian currency depreciated against the greenback by N2.66 or 0.19 per cent to sell for N1,373.70/$1 compared to last Friday’s rate of N1,371.04/$1.

Equally, it fell against the Pound Sterling in the same market segment by N9.05 to trade at N1,839.66/£1 versus N1,830.61/£1, and lost N5.42 on the Euro to close at N1,600.49/€1 versus N1,595.07/€1.

The performance of the local currency during the session indicates early worries despite all signals pointing to stability, amid improved Dollar sales by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), with steady, higher oil receipts to bolster the nation’s reserves.

Activity at the market showed that turnover rose 57.3 per cent to $76.29 million on Monday from $48.49 million posted on Friday.

Over the weekend, S&P raised Nigeria’s credit ratings for the first time since 2012 and highlighted improved FX market liquidity and $10 billion turnover recorded in April 2026 as one of the major gains of the CBN-led FX reforms.

The agency said the liberalisation of the exchange rate has bolstered access to foreign currency and enabled a market-driven exchange-rate environment while supporting investor and consumer confidence.

Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market was bullish on Monday as investors monitored developments in the Iran conflict and weighed the impact of surging oil prices on inflation and US interest-rate expectations.

Ethereum (ETH) gained 0.7 per cent to trade at $2,134.10, Cardano (ADA) rose by 0.6 per cent to $0.2515, Solana (SOL) expanded by 0.3 per cent to $85.11, Binance Coin (BNB) jumped 0.2 per cent to $643.29, TRON (TRX) increased by 0.03 per cent to $0.3565, and Bitcoin (BTC) advanced by 0.02 per cent to $76,912.12.

On the flip side, Dogecoin (DOGE) slid by 1.5 per cent to $0.1044, and Ripple (XRP) decreased by 0.5 per cent to $1.38, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 apiece.