The executive chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr. Babatunde Fowler has said that the agency generated N5 trillion by the second week of December 2018.
In a statement on Wednesday, the FIRS said it was targeting N5.3 trillion at the end of the year.
“If the FIRS pools N5.3 trillion revenue that will be the highest revenue ever generated by FIRS in history. The highest in FIRS history is N5.07 trillion generated in 2012.”
It also said generating N5tn was significant as it was at a period when oil prices oscillated between $50 and $70 per barrel and an average of $100 to $120 per barrel between 2010 and 2013.
Speaking at the induction of new members of the Joint Tax Board (JTB) yesterday in Abuja, Fowler said the FIRS had recorded significant achievements following support from the presidency, ministry of finance, the JTB and other taxation stakeholders.
“This year, the FIRS, with the support of the presidency, ministry of finance, the JTB and other stakeholders, had been able to generate up to N5tn. We believe that we should be able to close at least at N5.3tn which should be the highest in the history of the FIRS.
“And we believe that with that additional revenue, the state and federal governments would be able to provide more services and more development to the people of Nigeria,” he said.
The FIRS chief urged the new inductees of JTB to equip themselves with new ideas and embrace information and communication technology (ICT) to be able to face the task of revenue collection in an ever-changing society.
He also stated that as the world continues to transform in structure and process, especially with new technologies and ways of doing things, the role of tax administrators in an emerging economy such as Nigeria have become enormous.
“I see it as a privilege to be addressing this class of inductees today as history has chosen you at this critical point in time in our nation’s development to steer the ship of sustainable revenue generation,” he stated.
“While preparing for this occasion, I came across an observation by the American inventor and author, Ray Kurzweil, where he noted that the rate of scientific and technological change is exponential rather than linear. This observation presupposes that the better part of applied wisdom requires that in our journey of life, we are capable of identifying the most apt moment to know at what point to adapt to the ever-tumultuous sea that modern existence represents.
“It also indicates that we should be able to develop the ability to accept and embrace positive change, maybe due to the fact that change is inevitable, but more significantly that oftentimes, change presents us with the rare breaks that we can exploit to advance individual and collective goals and objectives,” said Fowler.
Meanwhile, the agency sealed the premises of Costain West Africa Limited and HFP Engineering Limited over N223.5 million and N87.6 million tax liabilities.
FIRS team, led by Aisha Duze, also sealed the premises of Prest Cruise Waterfront Hotel, Lekki Phase 1, over a N20 million tax liability. Also sealed was I-Fitness Centre Limited, Lekki Phase 1, which owes N15 million in taxes.
In the Surulere area, the team sealed the premises of Swiftalk Limited, which has a tax liability of N50.5 million; and Logic Science, which owes N53 million.
The team had on Tuesday shut down activities at CEDDI Corporation in Apapa over a tax debt of N385 million, HJ Heinz Nigeria Limited in Mushin, over N81.4 million unpaid tax and Temple Preparatory School on 213, Ikorodu Road, for N22 million outstanding taxes.
