Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, has highlighted the issue of low tax collection in Nigeria, noting that it poses significant challenges to financing critical sectors such as health and education. Gates made these comments on Tuesday, September 4, at the Nutrivision 2024, a pan-African youth dialogue on nutrition held in Abuja, Nigeria.
While addressing questions on possible financing mechanisms for funding large-scale public health interventions, Gates emphasized that increasing tax collection is crucial for Nigeria to improve its funding capacity in key sectors. He stated, “The actual tax collection in Nigeria is pretty low.”
Gates also expressed optimism about Nigeria’s potential to become a net food exporter, given its vast land and favorable soil types. He explained that with proper credit facilities, agricultural advice, and soil surveys, Nigeria could significantly increase its food production. “There’s the opportunity for Nigeria to more than double its food output, which would be transformative,” Gates said, adding that such a shift could help Nigeria conserve scarce foreign exchange by reducing the need for food imports.
Additionally, Gates underlined the importance of agricultural productivity, especially for incomes in rural and northern areas of Nigeria. He advocated for embracing digital technologies and improved seeds to drive an agricultural transformation that would promote equity, benefit women, and address nutritional challenges.
On the health front, Gates remarked that Nigerian citizens could build confidence in public and private health programs through efficient management and transparent spending. He noted that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is actively involved in demonstrating how funds can be effectively utilized to support primary health care systems, ensuring that resources are properly allocated and that health centers are neither underloaded nor overloaded.
Gates concluded, “It’s exciting that we’re driving the credibility of these health programs, and so citizens will feel that primary health care should be among the priorities to be well-funded as fiscal flexibility improves,” He said.
