We’ll Use Technology, Not Extra Taxes, To Increase Revenue — FG

The Bola Tinubu-led administration has revealed plans to improve Nigeria’s revenue collection using technology instead of imposing extra taxes on citizens.

This was disclosed by President Tinubu’s special adviser on revenue, Zacchaeus Adedeji.

Adedeji, during an interview on Channels Tv, monitored by THE WHISTLER, said the government will leverage the activities of various revenue agencies in the country to achieve the desired goal.

According to him, through the integration of revenue collection agencies, the country’s total annual revenue which is currently below N15 trillion, will be increased without imposing extra taxes.

“The current administration needs to increase the nation’s revenue not through taxation but by addressing indiscipline in national spending and technologically monitoring revenue collection when agencies like Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), and Nigerian Customs are harmonized.

“The law is very clear as to how to collect revenue. In Section 162 of the Nigerian Constitution, it is clearly stated that there shall be an account called the Federation Account and all government revenue must be put into that account.

“When we talk about harmonization, we are just saying the integration of all collecting agencies, that on one platform, we can know what is happening in Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Nigerian Port Authority (NPA), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Customs, and the FIRS.”

Adedeji revealed that the harmonization or integration does not mean the current administration will merge the various revenue collection agencies.

“We are not collapsing. The Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited will be NNPC because it is limited, FIRS will be (on its own) but the collection of all revenue will be technologically driven by data.”