FIRS generates N5trn in 2018, wants to make history

The Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, said it has so far generated N5 trillion by the second week of December, 2018.

According a statement by the service, the Executive Chairman of the FIRS, Babatunde Fowler, who stated this at the induction of new members of the Joint Tax Board on Wednesday in Abuja, also disclosed that the service is targeting N5.3 trillion by the end of the year.

It stated: “If the FIRS pools N5.3tn revenue, that will be the highest revenue ever generated by FIRS in history. The highest in FIRS history is N5.07tn generated in 2012.”

According to the statement, the generation of N5tn was significant as it was at a period when oil prices oscillated between $50 and $70 per barrel, adding that oil price was at an average of $100 to $120 per barrel between 2010 and 2013.

Fowler further stated that FIRS had been able to record significant achievements following maximum support from the Presidency, Ministry of Finance, the JTB and other taxation stakeholders.

“This year, the FIRS, with the support of the Presidency, Ministry of Finance, the JTB and other stakeholders, had been able to generate up to N5tn. We believe that we should be able to close at least at N5.3tn which should be the highest in the history of the FIRS.

“And we believe that with that additional revenue, the state and federal governments would be able to provide more services and more development to the people of Nigeria.”

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The FIRS boss urged the new inductees to JTB to equip themselves with new ideas and embrace Information and Communications Technology to be able to face the reality of revenue collection in the ever-changing society.

“I see it as a privilege to be addressing this class of inductees today as history has chosen you at this critical point in time in our nation’s development to steer the ship of sustainable revenue generation,” he stated.

“While preparing for this occasion, I came across an observation by the American inventor and author, Ray Kurzweil, where he noted that the rate of scientific and technological change is exponential rather than linear. This observation presupposes that the better part of applied wisdom requires that in our journey of life, we are capable of identifying the most apt moment to know at what point to adapt to the ever-tumultuous sea that modern existence represents.

“It also indicates that we should be able to develop the ability to accept and embrace positive change, maybe due to the fact that change is inevitable, but more significantly that oftentimes, change presents us with the rare breaks that we can exploit to advance individual and collective goals and objectives.” he added.

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