Poor Quality Of Service Reason For Tax Evasion, Says SGF

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustapha on Wednesday said one of the reasons citizens engaged in tax evasion and tax defaulting was their dissatisfaction with quality of services offered by public servants and public institutions.

According to him, service delivery is the cornerstone to the overall success of public institutions and justification for the employment of public servants in the country.

The SGF said: “Yesterday, we received the association of Chartered Accountants, an International body, operating in 179 countries, with membership strength of 2,000 in Nigeria. We got talking in the area of tax avoidance and tax evasion.

“We realize that some of the reasons why people don’t want to pay their tax or carry out their obligation of tax payment had to do with dissatisfaction over the quality of services they received. So our job is very important, and from whichever perspective we look at things, we have to deliver quality service to them.

“They will be happy to perform their obligation of tax payment and government will be able to raise the needed revenue to provide infrastructures for the growth and development of the country. Therefore, we can help in the drive of government to raise revenue and provide much better services to all citizens”.

Mr Mustapha made the remarks at his office while addressing representatives of agencies participating in enlightenment campaign/roadshow organized by SERVICOM to commemorate the 2019 Customer Service Week.

The SGF who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, General Services Office, Mr Olusegun .A. Adekunle urged civil servants in the country to live up to their responsibilities of providing quality services to the people, asserting that quality services remained the cornerstone for speedy growth and development of the country.

The National Coordinator of SERVICOM, Mrs Nnenna Akgemeli who led participants in the enlightenment campaign/roadshow through Federal Secretariat to the NTA Office in Abuja and later to the SGF Office said the event was being organized to celebrate customers and consumers of products as they are key in services provided by all agencies and institutions of government.

Mrs Akgemeli said the theme of this year’s edition: “The Magic of Service” was chosen to support the promotion of service excellence in public services in order to improve citizens’ satisfaction and build peoples’ confidence in the government of the day.

She lauded the SGF for supporting the activities of SERVICOM which are designed to raise the level of commitment and productivity of public servants, saying that the agency would still need more support to enable it deliver on its mandate.