FG Estimates N19.4tn Income In 2024 – FIRS Boss Adedeji
BY EDMOND ODOK – Upbeat in its quest to enhance income accruals into the Federation Account, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) is targeting N19.4 trillion as projected revenue for the year 2024.
Confidently, the Chairman of FIRS, Dr Zacch Adedeji, said the new target is achievable given an effective tax collection system and a viable economic environment currently in place for businesses to grow and prosper in the country.
The cheering news comes on the heels of the Service’s disclosure that its record N12.37 trillion tax revenue collection in 2023, did surpass the year’s initial target which was put at N10.7 trillion.
The breakdown of these figures as presented by the FIRS’s Coordinating Director, Special Tax Operations Group (STOG), Mrs Amina Ado, indicated that oil revenue brought in N3.17 trillion, representing 25.6 percent, with non-oil revenue accounting for the remaining N9.2 trillion, representing 74.4 percent of the total amount
A statement by Special Adviser on Media to the FIRS Chairman, Dare Adekanmbi explained that the figures were released during the opening of a two-day strategic management retreat of the agency held in Abuja on Wednesday, adding that the Service’s initial tax target of N10.7 trillion for 2023 was reviewed upwards to N11.5 trillion due to the exchange rate.
Also, the statement by Adekanmbi quoted the FIRS Chairman’s submission on the revenue target for 2024 thus; “What determines whatever we have comes from micro-economic indices because when the economy runs well, we are going to be taxing prosperity, not poverty. We will focus on the fruits and not the seeds.
“We need to ensure we have a viable economic environment that will lead to economic prosperity. And for us at FIRS, it is just to put the system in place to aid effective collection. We are not a revenue-generating agency, but a revenue-collection agency.”
The FIRS Chairman further assured that; “With the plan of President Bola Tinubu to rejuvenate the economy, companies are going to grow and prosper”.
Delivering his goodwill message at the retreat, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun, said increasing tax revenue has become imperative if the government must effectively discharge its responsibilities to the citizenry.
The Minister, who commended the FIRS chairman and the management team for “coming together right from the beginning of the financial year to come to rub minds and put up a strategy for increasing tax revenue”, said; “Tax revenue in Nigeria is low. The collection level should be much higher as we have seen in other African countries not to mention the developed countries.
“It is at 10 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP); when at the highest level, it goes around 55 percent. What the Chairman and his team have done is build on already-established performance. In 2023, FIRS met its financial target and even surpassed it.
“But they need to do more. And that is what the chairman and his team will be discussing for the two days to make sure they finalize plans to substantially increase internally generated revenue.”
Also speaking at the forum, the Accountant-General of the Federation, Dr. Oluwatoyin Madein, praised the FIRS for contributing about 70 percent of the total revenue for the federation and tasked the Service to keep up the good work of continuously exploring innovative ways to improve the government’s revenue profile.
