Executive Chairman of Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Dr. Zacch Adedeji, said the service had a collection target of about N19.41 trillion for the year after it surpassed its 2023 target by N816 billion, having collected about N12.37 trillion.
Adedeji spoke yesterday in Abuja at the opening of the FIRS 2024 Strategic Management Retreat, with the theme, “Reimagining Tax Administration for Equity and Economic Growth.”
Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Dr. Oluwatoyin Madein, affirmed that FIRS now accounted for about 70 per cent of the country’s total revenues, adding that a lot of tax revenues are still left uncollected and there is need to expand the current tax base.
Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, said the country must focus on domestic revenue mobilisation to fund its budget. Edun said amid the current economic realities, exploring expensive debts was not good for the country.
He said the President Bola Tinubu administration remained committed to actualising a 77 per cent increase in domestic revenue mobilisation to assist in funding critical infrastructure, especially healthcare and education.
Edun said while tax revenue remained crucial, the issues around increase in government revenue deserved attention, adding that federal government owned enterprises must do more to augment the current fiscal position of government going forward.
While commending the FIRS chairman and his team for exploring options to boost collection, Edun stated that the country’s tax revenue, as a percentage of GDP, remained low at 10 per cent, compared to other African countries and the developed world, in general.
