By Levinus Nwabughiogu

ABUJA—Federal Executive Council, FEC, has given approval for the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement on the exchange of country by country report to save Nigeria at least $1 trillion in tax evasion.

FEC meeting

By the agreement, it would be difficult for multinational companies operating on Nigeria’s soil to evade tax, since the system would give the government a better grip of the tax laws.

This development was made known by the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed alongside his colleagues in the Ministries of Power, Works, Housing, and Transportation, Messrs Babatunde Fashola and Chibuike Ameachi at a press conference after yesterday’s FEC meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Mohammed said Nigeria had lost a whopping $1 trillion, spanning over a length of time due to the lack of the agreement.

He also revealed that the council gave its nod for the construction of a bigger port in Badagry, Lagos State.

He said: “Council approved two important memos. The first approval was given for the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement on the exchange of country by country report. An approval was also given for the outline business case for development of greenfield port facilities in Badagry, Lagos State.

“In respect of the first memo which is the memo for Multilateral Competent Agreement and the exchange of country by country report, the whole essence is to give the government a better grip on its tax laws and also to prevent tax evasions and avoidance by multinational companies.

“At the last count, over $1trillion has been lost over a period of time and the revenue companies have found that they were losing more money in terms of tax evasion and avoidance than what they were even receiving as grants from multinational agencies.”

“So this is a law that provides that if a company like MTN or Nestle, for instance, is operating in Nigeria, not only must it file returns on its activities in Nigeria, it must also file returns on its activities in every other country that they are doing business.

‘’Apart from shoring up our finances, I think it is part of the fight against corruption and it also enhances transparency.

“The second is the approval given for the outline business case for the development of greenfield port facilities in Badagry, Lagos State, which basically is the first step to approving the establishment of a new sea port in Badagry area.

“What is important to us in the approval is that it shows that despite all the challenges that Nigeria is facing, Nigeria is still a very preferred investment destination.”

Also speaking at the conference, the Power, Works and Housing Minister, Babatunde Fashola, SAN, said the agreement would not only generate more revenue for the government but would also curb corruption in the system.

On the Badagry port, Fashola said it was long overdue as work started on site site in 2012, explaining further that the current port facilities were old fashioned and needed to be improved upon to accommodate bigger vessels.

“The Badagry port was long overdue. Our ports are behind in terms of technology in the maritime industry. There are bigger vessels now being built across the world that require larger depths and drafts berth.

‘’Now some of our competitors on the continent, like Djibouti, are building bigger ports, so if we don’t build this port, we risk becoming uncompetitive and we risk a threat to our maritime hub status in the sense that we may become a transshipment port, instead of a port of original destination.

“The work started back in 2012 and it is interesting that all of the financing is coming from the private sector. Again that is consistent with what this government stands for in terms of allowing private capital and competency to come into the development of our infrastructure.’’

Lending his voice, Minister of Transport, Ameachi, said the port would take about five years to construct after concessional agreement.

“We expect that at the end OBC and FBC concessional agreement, it should take five years to construct and that in this period when we are looking for foreign exchange it is going to bring a total of $2.558billion into the system and federal and Lagos state government would not contribute financially other than the land given by the Lagos state government,” he said.