Osifo Samson is an accountant and a financial management expert. He is also a good communicator with strong persuasive and negotiation skills. Formerly the financial director of Osafure (Nig.) Limited and also a Senior consultant with Emma Elliot & Associates where he specialized in investigating financial statement and debt recovery, Osifo Samson is the founder of Fosam Institute, where he lectures financial management, taxation, financial reporting and management accounting. He was formerly the Account Officer of Amingo International Limited.
Presently, he is the Principal Partner of Osifo Samson & Co., a financial, management and tax consulting firm whose analysts and consultants specialize in Management Accounting, Corporate and Managerial Finance, Management Consultant, Operational Management, Financial Advisory, Facilitator of Bank Loans & Overdrafts, Bank Charges Review and Reconciliation and Tax Management.
Osifo Samson Igbinoba had his First Degree (Bsc.) in Accounting from Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye after which he proceeded to the Lagos State University for Masters’ of Business Administration (M.BA Business Administration). He further went on to the University of Lagos for Masters’ of Science in Accounting (Msc. In Accounting). He’s also a holder of Masters’ of Science (MSc. Finance) from the Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State and PhD. in Credit Management from International University of Panama. He equally obtained PhD. in Financial Economics from Leeds Beckett University, former Leed Metropolitan University, London, UK and he belongs to various professional bodies both in Nigeria and other international countries.
Among them are Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), UK; Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, Chartered Institute of Credit Administration of Nigeria, The Institute of Chartered Economists of Nigeria, Chartered Institute of Finance & Control of Nigeria; Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria; Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Economists of Nigeria; Fellow of the Institute of Credit Management of Nigeria.
Others are Institute of Management Consultant of Nigeria (IMCON); Chartered Institute of Finance & Control of Nigeria, International Professional Managers Association, (UK); West Africa Institute of Management Consultant, Ghana; Certified Institute of Auctioneers, Nigeria. A few weeks back, he spoke to City People Magazine Publisher SEYE KEHINDE about what state governors can do to generate more internal revenue to save them from going cap in hand to the Federal government for bailouts. Below are excerpts of the interview.
Osifo Samson, the Principal Partner of Osifo Samson & Co. is not happy at how most governors in Nigeria always go cap in hand to beg for bailouts monthly from the federal government. He believes this is not right. He also feels governors can change the narrative if they take their time to understand the opportunities right before them. Osifo is a financial, Management & Tax consultant tos tates and banks.
According to him, most of the governors with due respect to them, they need to look inwards. Most state governors have that mindset, even before they came to government, that they have to go to the federal government for allocation. It shows that many of them do not know or understand the terrain he is going into.
The first thing they need to look at is the Withholding tax, the Stamp duty. For instance, there are transactions in banks every day, for which Stamp Duty is being paid. (N50 naira on transactions). We have 24 banks in Nigeria. All banks are in all states. So transactions are going on every day. Who are the banks paying stamp duty money too? The other day we did a job for a state and we discovered that about N1.5 billion stamp duty had not been paid for just a state. It shows that most governors don’t look inwards. They should close mark all these banks. In all transactions, who are you paying your stamp duties too? Who are you paying your withholding tax too? Withholding tax for individuals is going to states. Stamp Duty for the individual is going to states. Who are they paying it to? If you send somebody to send money to somebody’s account now, the state government takes N50 from that stamp duty. That is the minimum money they pay. So, look at the thousands of people that run those transactions every day. Who are those people paying money too? The withholding tax is there too. Every individual that has investments in the bank pays Withholding tax of 10%. Where is this withholding tax going to?
Apart from that, those banks too have staffs that weeks in states. Who are they paying their PAYE too? Most governors should be able to live inwards into their Internal Revenue Generation and be able to improve in their collection, through the introduction of so many tax policies that can be introduced into the states in other for them to close mark all these individuals that are defrauding them of their rights of paying their tax as and when due.
