VANGUARD
ABUJA — The new chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, Dr Zacch Adedeji, said yesterday the nation is in a revenue crisis and requires urgent steps to change the narrative.
Adedeji, who stated this while taking over the mantle of leadership of the agency from his predecessor, Muhammad Nami, noted that about 96 per cent of Federal Government revenue was spent on debt servicing last year, stressing that the situation is not sustainable.
This is even as the former chairman of the revenue agency, Nami, said the FIRS generated N8.5 trillion in revenue into the federation account as of mid-September.
Recall that one of the main reasons the government removed subsidy from petrol is inadequate revenue to run the affairs of the country.
Adedeji said: “We are in a revenue crisis, government revenue is low amid a huge public debt.
Last year, 96 per cent of government revenue went into debt servicing.
“Where debt has grown bigger than the Gross Domestic Product, GDP, and debt servicing faster than revenue, immediate actions have to be taken to remedy the situation.”
On his agenda to optimise revenue generation, he said: “In this direction, therefore, we will key into the reforms being made by President Bola Tinubu who has since inaugurated a Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee.
“The mandate of the committee is to, among other things, evolve an effective design and implementation of fiscal policy and tax reforms for economic prosperity.
‘Need for tidy fiscal landscape’
“At FIRS, we will embrace efforts being made to design a tidy fiscal landscape for the country and in the process, address some of the obstacles impeding effective operations of the service as the primary agency of government responsible for administration, assessment, collection, accounting as well as enforcement of taxes and levies.
“We need to innovate and build our operations on foolproof technology, while also evolving a hub of fresh ideas and creativity. “
The new tax-master pledged to eliminate leakages in the system, with a view to raking in all tax revenues into government coffers.
“We must definitely plug leakages. We need to strengthen our internal processes and control mechanisms. We must put a high premium on effective coordination of assigned tasks and delegated responsibilities,’’ he added.
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