Legal System Of Tax Income And Tariff Revenue In The Natural Resources And The Mining Sector In Nigeria: Obstacles And Challenges In Collecting Taxes And Duties, Parliamentary And Judicial Control

Abstract

Nigeria is endowed with a wide variety of economic minerals which are spread across all the geopolitical zones of the nation. The ownership, management and control of natural resources in Nigeria is enshrined in the Constitution, and recognized by the United Nations Organization (UN). In 1962, the General Assembly of the United Nations deliberated and adopted Resolution 1803, (xvii) titled “Permanent Sovereignty over Natural Resources”. This resolution changed the ownership structure of natural resources from investor ownership to State control of natural resources. The Federal Government of Nigeria, being the owner of natural resources in Nigeria, by virtue of being a member of the United Nations, and a signatory to the treaty which has been transmuted into municipal law, formulates policies which guarantee it receives some compensation for allowing the extraction of these resources. Chief among these policies is the fiscal policy, which is aimed at ensuring that government acquires benefits from the mining of these resources, or simply referred to as taxation or the levying of tax. The legal regime of these fiscal policies is what this presentation seeks to examine, and shall be considered against the backdrop of the obstacles and challenges that mitigate the optimal realization of benefits to be accrued in its implementation, which may be parliamentary or judicial in nature. In doing this, the various extant tax laws on are examined. For clarity, Nigeria operates a presidential system of government and not a parliamentary one, and any reference to parliamentary here strictly means the legislative segment of the government.