The federal government has described how it will employ technology to continuously check tax collection.
In an interview with Channels Television, Zacchaeus Adedeji, Bola Tinubu’s special adviser on revenue, revealed this. The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), and other revenue collection agencies, according to him, will have their operations integrated.
Adedeji added that without raising taxes, they will be able to boost the nation’s annual total revenue, which is currently less than N15 trillion.
He stated:
“The current administration needs to raise the country’s revenue, but not through taxing, but rather by tackling spending irresponsibility at the federal level and utilizing technology to oversee revenue collection when organizations like FIRS and Nigerian Customs are integrated.
“How to collect taxes is quite clearly spelled out in the law. The Nigerian Constitution’s Section 162 makes it explicit that there must be a Federation Account, into which all government money must be sent.
“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.”
The harmonisation or integration exercise, according to Adedeji, does not imply that the Tinubu administration will combine revenue collection agencies, she added;
“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.”
Adedeji expressed sympathy for Nigerians’ plight caused by the loss of the fuel subsidy and added that the country’s current economic difficulties and inflation are only temporary.