How FIRS attained N4 trillion revenue target in 2017, by Fowler

THE Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has said it broke boundaries in 2017, notwithstanding the country’s slow activities and exit from recession, to achieve a record N4 trillion in tax revenue collections.

The Chairman of FIRS, Babatunde Fowler, said this during a courtesy visit of the agency, the members of the Senate Committee on Finance and the House Committee on Finance, to the palace of the Oba of Lagos.

Fowler reiterated that the new grounds the agency has attained supersedes the record of N3.3 trillion as revenue collection in 2016 by over 20 per cent and maintained that with his agency’s drive on tax revenue collection, the country would move forward to attain more grounds.

“By putting our hands together in contribution on to our set goal, I am confident that we will surpass our past result and we will be on our way to the future we hope to achieve.

“Even if the price of oil gets as high as $100 per barrel, taxation and tax administration will continue to move forward. It is clear that taxation is the most sustainable of all government revenue sources,” Fowler said.

“For us in Nigeria, a decline in receipts from oil revenue and decline in accruals to states from the federal account has placed many states in a financial quandary, to the extent where basic obligation such as the payment of employee wage has become a perennial challenge,” he added.

The visit to the palace was to thank the Oba for his immense support to the FIRS through his participation in making sure that tax revenue collections are properly carried out in Lagos, which also contributed significantly to the agency’s tax revenue collection successes.

Fowler also commended the National Assembly and the traditional ruler for their involvement in deepening tax collection in the nation and requested for more support from the Oba as the Chairman, Council of Traditional Rulers, to see to it that his subordinates follow his footsteps.

The Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu, who received visitors at his palace, thanked the National Assembly and the FIRS for their contribution and support to tax revenue generation in the country.

The royal father noted that the country needed good government, governance and leadership and urged them to be patient with the president in his system of moving the country forward.