Rich Nigerians Don't Pay Taxes - El-Rufai

The Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai has said that he is of the opinion that rich people in Nigeria don't "pay taxes".

He said this at a virtual event convened by the World Bank, adding that the country's debt was "getting out of hand".

Nigeria's debt portfolio, according to the data released by the Debt Management Office, stands at N31 trillion - as of 30 June 2020.

Speaking on funding security in the country, El-Rufai said that the reduction in the budgets of other ministries can see an increase in the budget of defence.

He said, “You can’t fund security more than you are doing now unless you reduce spending on other ministries, departments and agencies."

On the issue of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), he said that the apex bank "is into everything", and that is an issue that needs to be addressed.

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He said, “The extensive way in which the Central Bank is into everything, I think, has to be addressed and dealt with. And we must look at our domestic debt management and do something about it.

“It is getting out of control and we are getting to our debt ceiling as far as liquidity is concerned. And to pretend that our debt-to-GDP ratio is still low, I think is not the answer to the question.

“It is a travesty that in Nigeria, as at 2018, just about 20 people in the whole country paid more than N20m in income tax. It is a travesty and something should be done.”