The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and Afropolitan Media Limited have held the Kaduna state session of national sensitisation and capacity-building training programme on tax for media professionals in Kaduna.
The workshop, whose topic was “Understanding the Rudiments and Importance of Taxation in Nigeria” was delivered by a tax consultant at Shehu Mohammed & Co, Mr. Ma’roof Ibraheem Ajibola.
FIRS and Afropolitan Media Limited initiated the national workshop programme in order to bring journalists abreast of developments in the Nigerian Tax System under the administration of FIRS Executive Chairman, Mr. Muhammad Nami, so that the media can inform the general public from a position of knowledge of the sector.
The workshop was also designed to sensitise the media on new challenges posed by fresh developments to tax organisations in the country and worldwide such as e-commerce. It was conceived to deepen knowledge of the Nigerian tax administration among journalists so that they can report the sector better to the understanding and benefit of taxpayers in Nigeria.
Chairman, Correspondents Chapel, Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Kaduna state, Alhaji Abdulgafar Alabelewe, led a full house of journalists practicing in the state to the Kaduna workshop.
The chief executive officer, Afropolitan Media Limited, Hajiya Aisha Umar Halilu, in her opening remarks at the one-day workshop, stated that “the workshop aims to bring participants up to date on current challenges faced by tax authorities like the FIRS and the importance of the media reporting these challenges ethically and responsibly for the education of the taxpaying public”.
She commended the FIRS for supporting the capacity-building training for media professionals in the country and urged the journalists to make use of the knowledge gained at the workshop to sensitise the public better on their legal responsibility to pay tax.