Bill Gates, the co-chair of the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), says the Nigerian government needs to
gain credibility with citizens in order to generate more revenue domestically
to fund the nation’s development.
Gates said Nigeria still has some
of the smallest tax-to-GDP ratios anywhere in the world — and needs to improve
the quality of spending to gain credibility with citizens.
Speaking via a teleconference
with select journalists, Gates said the government needs to
gain this credibility in order to ensure more taxes are paid, and Nigeria can
raise its revenue mobilisation to the same level as its peers.
“One challenge that Nigeria has
is that the amount of money that the government raises domestically is quite
small compared to other countries,” he said.
“A lot of countries at that level
will be raising closer to 15 percent of GDP and Nigeria is one of the lowest in
the world down at about 6 percent. And so, it is a huge challenge that when you
want to fund infrastructure, health, education, all those things, that over
time the tax collection, the domestic resources are going to have to go up
quite a bit.
“That’s a long-term effort and I
think partly by making sure the current resources are spent well like on
primary health care, you gain the credibility that the citizens will say, okay,
we want more of these things.
“If we don’t raise the quality,
you can get into a trap where they don’t feel like paying the taxes actually
has that much impact, and so they’re not supportive of that.”
GOALKEEPERS REPORT: STARK
INEQUALITY WITHIN NIGERIA
Unveiling BMGF’s Goalkeepers
Report, which measures the state of performance of the SDGs across the world,
Gates said there is inequality in almost every location in the world today.
In Nigeria, a girl born in Ado
Ekiti will most likely finish her secondary education, but if the same girl
were born in Garki local government in Ekiti, she will not complete primary
education.
Underlying data for the report
shows the stark inequalities between the 774 local government areas in Nigeria.
The report revealed that Owerri
Municipal LGA is the best place for an average girl child in Nigeria to get
educated — with an average of 12.14 years in school, while Tangazar LGA in
Sokoto is the worst place to be born as a girl child, who would like to go to
school.
The infographics above show the
worst and best local governments in Nigeria on girl child education, with Imo
being the best and Sokoto being the worst.
“Nigeria is a super-important
country and one that the foundation has an office there. We did a lot of work in Nigeria on polio and
we learned a lot doing that. Nigeria has gone almost three years now without
having a polio case,” Gates added.
“The biggest priority we have,
although making absolutely sure we’re done with polio remains a big priority,
now we’re able to focus even more on the primary health care system.
“Nigeria is important, I’m
hopeful about Nigeria. As you see in the
report, the disparities within Nigeria are quite stark.
“So, we’re working hard. I mentioned we do videoconferences with state
governors. If we can make the six states
into exemplars, then these practices can be extended to all 18 of the northern
states.
“There are best practices down in
the south as well that we can learn from that as well. And so, you know,
building on what we were able to achieve with polio and the relationships we’ve
built there and our commitment, starting with primary health care, we think
that Nigeria can tackle its inequality.”
BILL GATES: MY WISH FOR NIGERIA
Gates, who highlighted his wish
for Nigeria, says the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, has learnt a lot in
Nigeria and is working with northern governors to address the issues around
health and education.
“If I had one wish for Nigeria,
it would be that the quality and funding of the primary health care system
would achieve the level of some other countries that are lower income but have
done a better job with the primary health care system. So, it definitely is doable.
“In Nigeria for a lot of the work
we do there we’re partnered with Aliko Dangote, who helps us understand who the
good partners are and exactly how we can reach out to groups like the
traditional leaders and get them involved in these efforts as well.
“I do a regular phone call with
six of the governors in the north of Nigeria to talk about the statistics on
their primary health care system, getting the workers there, getting the
vaccine supply right, getting the mothers to show up, so that we get antenatal
care to be better, we get vaccination rates to be better.
“And it’s really the digital
tools that let us, you know, every time we meet and talk, we have a sense of,
okay, what’s gone well in the last six months, what hasn’t, and what do we need
to change.”
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