Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, pointed out that Nigeria's tax collection remains low.
He made this remark while discussing possible financing strategies for large-scale public health initiatives during the Nutrivision 2024 event, a Pan-African youth dialogue on nutrition, held in Abuja on Tuesday.
Nigeria has one of the lowest tax-to-GDP ratios globally. The government doesn't trust citizens to pay their taxes, and citizens don't trust the government to use the revenue wisely. Consequently, Nigeria's tax-to-GDP ratio stands at just 10.86%, significantly lower than even its African counterparts and trailing the regional average of 15.6%.
He stressed that low tax collection hinders the ability to adequately fund crucial sectors like health and education.
What he said:
"Over time, there are plans for Nigeria to fund the government more than it does today. The actual tax collection in Nigeria is actually pretty low,"
"If citizens want the education and the health things, as they develop the confidence that these programmes can be very well run, and our foundation is involved with a lot of the exemplars that are showing the way in terms of making sure the money is spent really well, running a very efficient primary health care system where the employees are doing great work, the centres are where they should be, you don't have underloaded centres or overloaded centres."
Bill Gates revealed that Nigeria receives the most intervention funds from the foundation in Africa, due to its large population and significant needs. Gates emphasised that future spending will continue to prioritise primary healthcare, citing its high impact per dollar.
The businessman also shared his optimism about Nigeria's potential to greatly increase its agricultural output and shift from being a net food importer to a leading food exporter.
Gates noted that with proper support, including better access to credit, comprehensive soil assessments, and effective advisory services for farmers, Nigeria could more than double its food production.
"Instead of having to use very scarce dollars, particularly the current exchange rate to go buy food, you are actually bringing dollars in." he stated.
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