Fowler Fumes Over Query – Says I Did Better

…He is not under any probe – presidency

The Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr. Babatunde Fowler has met the target date given him by President Muhammadu Buhari within which to respond to query on shortfalls in taxable revenue accruing to the Federal Government from 2015 to 2018.

President Buhari through his Chief of Staff, Mr. Abba Kyari had asked the FIRS boss in a query to explain the differences between budgeted and the actual tax collections in recent years.

Fowler in responding to the query referred to an appendix to drive home his point submitted what he described as a comprehensive variance analysis between budgeted and actual collections for each main tax item for the period 2012-2018 as requested (see Apendix 1)

He further said in the response addressed to the Chief of Staff to the President that; “Your letter stated that actual collections for a 3-year period were significantly worse than what was collected between 2012 and 2014.

“Total actual collection for the said period was N14,527.86 trillion, while total actual collection between 2016 to 2018 was N12,656.30 trillion. The highlight of these collection figures was that during the period 2012 to 2014, out of the N1,527.85 trillion, oil revenue accounted for N8,321.64trillion or 57.28% while non-oil accounted for N6,206.22trillion or 42.72% and during the later period of 2016 to 2018 out of the N12,656.30trillion, oil revenue accounted for N5,145.87 trillion or 40.65% and non-oil revenue accounted N7,510.42 trillion or 59.35%.

“FIRS management has control of non-oil revenue collection figures while oil revenue collection figures are subject to more external forces as highlighted below.

“From the above, the non-oil revenue collection grew by N1,304.20 trillion or 21% within the period 2016 to 2018.”

The FIRS boss therefore urged President Buhari through his Chief of Staff to kindly note that the total budget collection figure during 2012 to 2014 stood at N12,190.52 trillion compared to N16,771.78 trillion for the period 2016 to 2018,which represents an increase of 37.58%.”

Meanwhile, the Presidency on Monday made a detour saying that the Executive Chairman of FIRS Mr. Babatunde Fowler, is not under any investigation.

A statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Garba Shehu said the letter from the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, merely raises concerns over the negative run of the tax revenue collection in recent times.

According to the presidential spokesman; “Taking a cue from today’s (Monday) presentation of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo   at the Presidential Retreat for Ministers-Designate, Federal Permanent Secretaries and Top Government Functionaries , which dwelt on an ‘Overview of the Policies , Programmes and Project Audit Committee,’ a body he chaired,  projected revenue of government  falls behind recurrent expenditure even without having factored in capital expenditure.

“Consequently, it would appear that the country might be heading for a fiscal crisis if urgent steps are not taken to halt the negative trends in target setting and target realisation in tax revenue.

“Anyone conversant with Federal Executive Council deliberations would have observed that issues bordering on revenue form the number one concern of what Nigeria faces today, and therefore, often take a prime place in discussions of the body.

“It is noteworthy and highly commendable that under this administration, the number of taxable adults has increased from 10 million to 20 million with concerted efforts still on-going to bring a lot more into the tax net,” Shehu said.