The Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Tunde Fowler, says the service has generated N5 trillion in 50 weeks of 2018.
Speaking at the induction of new members of the Joint Tax Board (JTB) on Wednesday in Abuja, Fowler said FIRS has been able to record significant achievements following maximum support from the presidency, ministry of finance, the JTB and other taxation stakeholders.
He added that the agency is at the verge of making N5.3 trillion at the end of the year, which would be the highest revenue ever generated by FIRS in history, surpassing the N5.07 trillion generated in 2012.
“This year, the FIRS, with the support of the Presidency, Ministry of Finance, the JTB and other stakeholders, has been able to generate up to N5 trillion. We believe that we should be able to close at least at N5.3 trillion which should be the highest in the history of FIRS,” he said.
“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.
“Fowler urged the new inductees to JTB to equip themselves with new ideas and embrace the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) 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 nations development to steer the ship of sustainable revenue generation.
The FIRS boss also stated that as global society continues to transform in structure and process, especially with new technologies and ways of doing things, the role that has been presented before tax administrators in an emerging economy such as Nigeria are quite enormous.
