The Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN) has stressed the need to create awareness and advocate the effective implementation of bilateral treaties between the United Kingdom (UK) and Nigeria.

The move, the institute said, was particularly on double taxation agreements between countries. CITN President and Chairman in Council, Samuel Agbeluyi, said this at the inauguration of the United Kingdom and district society, as well as the investiture ceremony of its pioneer chairman, Peter Makinde.

He charged the district society, as part of its core mandate to focus on knowledge sharing on the potential of the OECD beneficial ownership initiative and the common reporting standard, which gave rise to the automatic exchange of information between tax administrations.

According to him, the district society holds the key to unlocking the benefits and expectations of the frameworks for businesses and tax authorities operating in both jurisdictions.

The CITN chief said the concept behind district societies was to provide a formal platform for members to collectively organise and make impact at the sub-national and international levels.

To this end, Agbeluyi said the council of the institute would be assessing the performance of the UK and district society by evaluating among others, its impact on areas of effective contributions to issues affecting tax and fiscal policy in Nigeria while leveraging on its experiences in the domicile and other jurisdictions, as well as liaising effectively with stakeholders within the tax and fiscal policy landscape of the UK.

While congratulating the newly elected chairman and his executives for earning the confidence of members to pilot the affairs of the society for the next two years, he urged them to work assiduously and selflessly to make the district a point of reference among other district societies in the shortest possible time.