Days of dependence on oil revenue gone — FIRS

Fowler

Umar Muhammed

The acting Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Mr. Babatunde Fowler, has expressed displeasure at the suggestions from certain quarters that tax laws should be reviewed in Nigeria.

He said this during an interactive meeting with members of the Chartered Institute of taxation of Nigeria in Abuja.

He said, “It is clear to the people and also to the three tiers of government in Nigeria to know that oil revenues are gone forever; that we can no longer continue to rely on revenues from oil for our budgetary allocations.

“What is left for us now as a nation is to rely on revenues from taxation, so any organisation or individual that is fortunate to make a living here will have no option but to pay tax.”

Fowler, pledged that he would use his office to ensure that the CITN delegation led by Dr. Olateju Somorin and FIRS would join forces to put in place a working committee that would assist both organisations to clear any outstanding issues between them.

He stated, “All we have to do is to ensure that the right things are done, people and organisations should be 99 or 100 per cent compliant to pay what is due and when we see what we have, we can confidently plan on them.’’

He added that the FIRS would continue to ensure a robust relationship with the institute even as he promised that the FIRS was prepared to fund the CITN conference coming up in the year.

Earlier, Somorin told the FIRS boss that the CITN was putting together its Charter of Tax Demands to President Muhammadu Buhari.

She said, ‘’The institute believes that a vibrant tax system has a significant role to play in the new administration.  This has become even more germane in the face of declining oil revenue, which has for a long time been the main stay of government funding and the economy.”

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