The Society of Women in Taxation, Kwara State Chapter (SWIT) on Tuesday engaged some students of selected secondary schools on debate on taxation as a way out of the present economic woes.
Outgoing chairperson of SWIT Kwara, Dr Abiola Adimula, said the objective of the debate was to sensitise the public on taxation and to identify the civic role of citizens in supporting governance with payment of tax.
The programme had six secondary schools from the three senatorial districts.
They are Queen Elizabeth Secondary School, Ilorin and St Anthony’s Secondary School, Ilorin from Kwara Central, Tsaragi Unity Secondary School and Government Unity Secondary School,Kaiama from Kwara North.
The schools representing Kwara South are Oyun Baptist High School, Ijagbo and Government Secondary School, Omu-Aran.
Dr Adimula said the schools were carefully selected to represent their senatorial districts in debating the ways out of the nation’s present economic woes.
She added that with the present situation of dwindling income from the oil sector and the struggle from the agricultural sector, Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) provides a true source of income for the government
”These are special times in the entire globe with the unprecedented COVID-19 and the devastating effects and the number of deaths globally.
”SWIT has realised that the government cannot do it alone and as an association, we support the government in various actions of taxation to ease govt responsibilities and protect the citizens from double taxation.
”We must not forget that the two in one Associations- Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN) which is the umbrella body of Society of Women in Taxation (SWIT) both work to support the government not only to improve IGR, but particularly to enlighten the public on the importance of their civic roles.
”This should be done in a way that will make people pay with good understanding and less stress for the government,” Dr Adimula said.
On the national level, she charged the government at all levels to exercise their responsibility towards cohesion and peaceful coexistence of people in this country.
”The growing insecurity of lives and property is alarming and scary as the national integration of our dear country has been threatened especially with the recent unrest in the South West.
”All the regions are facing different insecurity issues from herders/farmers clash to Boko Haram insurgency to banditry to kidnapping, militancy and others.
Kwara Deputy Governor, Mr Kayode Alabi commended the organisers for catching them young in terms of carrying students along in understanding the issues surrounding taxation.
Alabi who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Women Affaira, Mrs Hafsat Ibrahim, said it was necessary to create awareness on tax for people to stop seeing it as a form of punishment.
The National SWIT Chairperson, Mrs Kudirat Abdul-Hamid urged the participants to pursue a career in taxation.
Abdul-Hamid who was represented by the National Secretary, Mrs Olaitan Babatunde commended the state chapter for making the students informed about taxation in their early age.
Our reporter also reports that different bodies and associations were represented like
International Federation of Women Lawyers, Nigeria Association of Women Journalists and Society of Women Accountants of Nigeria, all Kwara State Chapter.
At the end of the debate, GSS, Omu-Aran came first followed by Oyun Baptist High School, Queen Elizabeth Secondary School and Tsaragi Unity Secondary School respectively.
David Dada, GSS Omu-Aran emerged as the Best Speaker of the debate.
The programme also witnessed the swearing in of Kwara SWIT new executives led by Mrs Janet Olaoye as the Chairperson and seven other members.
