The Federal Government is set to harmonise all revenue-collecting agencies in Nigeria in its bid increase the country’s revenue.
This was disclosed by the Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Revenue, Zach Adedeji on Monday during his appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme.
He said the government will double the Nigeria’s total annual revenue without additional taxes noting that that Tinubu’s administration is prepared to tackle the nation’s revenue challenge through fiscal discipline and harmonisation of revenue channels using technology.
“The law is very clear as to how to collect revenue. In Section 162 of the Nigerian Constitution, it is clearly stated that there shall be an account called the Federation Account and all government revenue must be put into that account,” Adedeji said.
“When we talk about harmonisation, we are just saying integration of all collecting agencies, that on one platform, we can know what is happening in NIMASA, NPA, NCC, Customs, Federal Inland Revenue (Service)…We will make use of technology to know everything going on in realtime.”
Adedeji clarified that the Tinubu administration is not going to collapse revenue-generating bodies like the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), and the Nigeria Customs Service.
“We are not collapsing. NNPC will be NNPC because it is limited, Federal Inland Revenue (Service) will be but the collection of all revenue will be technologically driven by data…Why there seems to be government within government is because of the law because there is no real law that specify what they should do.”
Ifunanya Ikueze is an Engineer, Safety Professional, Writer, Investor, Entrepreneur and Educator.
