The Federal Government (FG) intends to unify all revenue-collecting organizations in Nigeria.
Zach Adedeji, Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Revenue, stated this on Channels Television on Monday.
Adedeji stated that the government will quadruple the country’s total annual revenue, which is currently less than ₦15 trillion, through strengthening the nation’s revenue collecting system rather than by imposing new taxes.
According to the President’s revenue chief, Nigeria has a revenue problem, but the current administration is prepared to address it through fiscal discipline and harmonisation of revenue channels using technology that allows all government income-collecting institutions to be viewed 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.”
Adedeji stated unequivocally that the Tinubu administration will not dissolve revenue-generating agencies such as 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 (NCS).
Instead he stated that the present administration will employ technology to connect all revenue-collection agencies in order to analyze money in real time and eliminate any sort of “government within government.”
Tinubu, according to Adedeji, has already approved the harmonisation of all revenue-collecting agencies.
“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.”
He also stated that the removal of the petrol subsidy and the unification of foreign exchange rates had removed the “distortion we have in our economy,” and that Nigerians will soon begin to experience the “windfall which I know will bring shared prosperity for all Nigerians.”
