Federal Government of Nigeria is set to harmonise all revenue-collecting agencies in the country.
Gatekeepers News reports that Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Revenue, Zach Adedeji said the government will double the country’s total annual revenue which is currently below N15trn.
Adedeji, while speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday, said this will be done by deepening the nation’s revenue collection system and not by adding extra taxes.
The President’s revenue chief, said the country has a revenue problem but the current administration is prepared to tackle the challenge through fiscal discipline and harmonisation of revenue channels using technology to view all government revenue-collecting agencies in realtime.
Adedeji said, “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.
“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.”
He 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.
Rather, the President’s aide said, the current administration will use technology to integrate all revenue-collecting agencies to monitor revenue in real-time and remove any form of “government within government”.
He also stressed that Tinubu has already approved the harmonisation of all the revenue-collecting agencies.
Adedeji said, “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.”
While noting that most of the country’s tax laws are obsolete, he stated that the recently established Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms chaired by Taiwo Oyedele will review the existing laws on economy and taxation and come up with realistic laws in consonance with current economic realities.
Adedeji said, “If you look at our fiscal space, it is being governed by only two laws as of today. We have Finance Management Act of 1958 and Fiscal Responsibility Act.
“The Stamp Duty Law was given to our by the British in 1939 when there was no internet,” adding that the Oyedele-led committee will come up with fresh laws that reflect current economic realities.
Tinubu’s Revenue Chief said the philosophy of the government is not to tax poverty and production but prosperity and consumption.
Adedeji also said the removal of petrol subsidy and the unification of foreign exchange rates has removed the “distortion we have in our economy”, saying Nigerians would soon begin to see the “windfall which I know will bring shared prosperity for all Nigerians”.
