A teenager, fondly called Zuwiara by her neighbours, has to wake up early every morning to help her mother by hawking Kunu-Geda –a local drink made from groundnuts and rice– and other food items at a construction site in one of the popular cities in the country.

She, being the first of the family’s six children, will wake up to get her siblings ready for school until they had to stop going to school when a rainstorm destroyed some classes of the only school in the area.

She and other children, therefore, joined their mother in hawking at construction sites to cater for the family pending the time the school would be rehabilitated.

Zuwiara’s mother, 44-year-old Halima, said that since her husband lost his job at a local textile industry and fell sick, she had to fend for the family.

Zuwiara’s story is only one of the millions of out-of-school children reported by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

The organisation’s report portrayed Nigeria as having the highest number of children out of school and one of the world’s worst education systems.

However, experts observe that there is a link between the crumbling education service and evasion of tax by local and multinational companies in Nigeria.

They note that with proper tax regime, money accruing from it can be useful in addressing infrastructure deficit in Nigeria’s education sector.

Statistics obtained from the Director, Communication and Servicom Department, Federal Inland Revenue Service, Mr Wahab Gbadamosi, shows that out of the 450,000 limited liability companies operating in Nigeria, no fewer than 125,000 representing 27.7 per cent pay any form of taxes.

In the light of this, a stakeholder in education sector, Dr Charles Nwaobia, observed that the Education Tax Act showed how the government intended to have a sustainable education system funded through tax.

He said that the tax imposed by the act was meant to fund the federal, states and local government educational institutions, including primary and secondary schools.

“Two per cent shall be charged on the assessable profit of a company registered in Nigeria.

“The Federal Board of Inland Revenue shall assess and collect from a company the tax imposed by this act.

“Accordingly, the higher education section shall receive 50 per cent, the primary education section 30 per cent; and the secondary education section shall receive 20 per cent; of the total tax collected in any one year,’’ he cited a portion of the act.

Nwaobia said the number of companies that were taxed would determine the amount of money we put into our education system and if they eluded tax, it would affect the funding of the education sector.

But analysts allege that some of the ways companies evade was by making their books to show that they were at loss and they can only be taxed when they make profit.

They call on governments to find more effective ways to collect taxes and tighten the tax system to block leakages.

In her view, Mrs Ojobo Atuluku, the Country-Director, Actionaid Nigeria, said Nigeria lost N577 billion every year by granting tax breaks, waivers and other forms of tax incentives to multinational companies in the country.

“The money lost to tax incentives is money that should have gone to building classrooms, buying textbooks and implementing programmes that will bring more children to school.

“We call on Federal Government to design and put in place tax incentives policy that capture our present economic realities.

“We also want multinational companies to be transparent about their finances, including reporting their profits, sales, assets, number of employees and tax payments to governments in each country where they operate, including taxes not paid due to tax breaks,’’ she said.

Supporting a sound tax system for Nigeria, Miss Crystal Simone of the Tax Justice Network Africa, said a fair tax system would raise money to pay for public services like schools, hospitals and roads.

“Public services can help realise our rights, such as children and youth’s right to free quality public education, reduction in women’s unpaid care work or safe cities for women.

“In poor communities, tax-funded services can mean the difference between life and death,’’ she said.

Similarly, Sen. Binta Garba, representing Adamawa North Senatorial District, said a fair tax regime could help the government in providing free basic education at primary and secondary level.

“The issue of adequate funding for quality education for our children must receive urgent government attention. The federal and state governments cannot keep talking about empty treasuries.

“We must fund our children’s futures through having a fair tax system, a tax system that is not hampered by restrictive tax treaties or unfair incentives and waivers,’’ she said.

Irrespective of these opinions, the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, claimed that the Federal Government had captured more than 363, 000 existing companies that never paid tax into its tax database.

This claim notwithstanding, observers believe that Nigeria can raise a good per cent of its Gross Domestic Product in taxes by stopping tax breaks, cooperating to fight tax, avoidance of evasion and by diversifying its tax base.