FIRS Generates N5trn, Targets N5.3trn By Year End

The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has generated N5 trillion as
at the second week of December 2018, its Executive Chairman Tunde Fowler
has disclosed.

By the end of 2018, the agency said it should have made not less than N5.3 trillion.

Speaking
at the induction of new members of the Joint Tax Board (JTB) on
Wednesday in Abuja, Fowler said: “This year, the FIRS, with the support
of the Presidency, Ministry of Finance, the JTB and other stakeholders,
has been able to generate up to N5 trillion.

“We believe that we should be able to close at least at N5.3 trillion which should be the highest in the history of 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”.

Fowler urged the new inductees of JTB
to equip themselves with new ideas and embrace the Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) to be able to face the reality of revenue
collection in the ever-changing society.

This new development,
he said, “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.”

The FIRS boss also stated that
as the global society continues to transform in structure and process,
especially with new technologies and ways of doing things, the role that
has been presented before tax administrators in an emerging economy
such as Nigeria are quite enormous.

Developments in global
politics and economics, he noted, “indicate a trend towards increased
de-emphasis on proceeds from oil and other commodity exports.

“Huge
investments are being made everyday by more advanced economies towards
seeking alternative energy sources; and sooner rather than later, oil as
a mainstay of the nation’s economy will indeed no longer be
sustainable, it is just a matter of time.”

Source:- Thenationonlineng