"Nigeria's FfD4 Agenda: Climate Finance, Tax Reforms"

By Abdullahi Alhassan, Kaduna 

As the world prepares for the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) in Seville, Spain, Nigerian civil society organisations are calling for transformative global reforms and urgent domestic action to address the country's persistent financing challenges. A newly released report by the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) and its partners highlights the country's multidimensional financing gap, driven by underperforming domestic resource mobilisation, inequitable global financial rules, and increasing vulnerability to climate change.

The report paints a sobering picture of Nigeria's development trajectory, warning that critical sectors such as education, health, agriculture, and climate resilience remain chronically underfunded. "Education spending falls below UNESCO benchmarks, health expenditure remains under 4% of GDP, and the country loses over $18 billion annually to illicit financial flows," the document states. Furthermore, Nigeria's debt service-to-revenue ratio has exceeded 70%, leaving little room for investment in people.

The report emphasizes that while international frameworks such as the African Union's Agenda 2063 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) offer a shared vision for progress, the real struggle lies in resource mobilisation. "The issue is not a lack of frameworks, but rather a lack of effective implementation due to several core problems," the report asserts, citing corruption, poor budget implementation, outdated development data, and weak public financial management systems as recurring challenges.

To address these challenges, the report outlines a range of policy proposals to enhance Nigeria's financial capacity. These include adopting digital tax systems for fair taxation, simplifying trade processes to drive industrialisation, launching anti-corruption and asset recovery campaigns, and establishing development finance facilities to de-risk private investment in infrastructure and social services.

The report also draws attention to Nigeria's worsening brain drain crisis, warning that the continued migration of skilled workers is directly linked to the lack of inclusive economic opportunities at home. "If we fail to invest in youth-centred policies and job creation, our best minds will continue to seek prosperity elsewhere," the report warns.

As the world gears up for FfD4, Nigeria is positioning itself to take a leadership role in shaping the future of global development finance. The report concludes with a call to action, urging the international community to prioritise loss and damage financing, equitable access to green investments, and reform of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) to better support middle-income countries carrying high poverty burdens.