The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), is targeting N31 trillion revenue collection for the year 2026. FIRS Executive Chairman, Dr. Zacch Adedeji disclosed this at the National Assembly, Abuja on Monday, during an interactive session with the Senate Committee on Finance.
The disclosure by Adedeji followed a demand by the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Senator Sani Musa, who insisted on getting an answer from the FIRS chairman.
Adedeji had earlier told the committee that he would not be able to fix revenue performance target for 2026 in isolation of other intervening factors.
The chairman and members of the committee however, urged him to set a target, reminding him that the Service exceeded its 2025 revenue generation target of N25.2 trillion by 16 percent.
Dr Adedeji took time to clarify the controversy generated by the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by FIRS and with France’s Direction Générale des Finances Publiques, at the French embassy in Abuja.
The agreement was formalised by FIRS’ Dr. Zacch Adedeji, and the French Ambassador in Nigeria, Marc Fonbaustier.
The MoU establishes a framework for collaboration between the two agencies, focusing on strengthening tax administration, advancing digital processes, and building institutional capacity.
Explaining the MoU further, Adedeji said the FIRS Establishment Act approved such collaboration with relevant international tax agencies for mutual benefits.
According to him, there is nothing new in the MoU with the French agency, saying that FIRS had similar collaboration with relevant agencies in South Africa, United Kingdom and Singapore at one point or the other in the past.
The FIRS chair dismissed claims in some quarters that information on tax data of Nigerians could be exposed through such collaboration with foreign agencies.
Adedeji said, “Nobody can reveal or release anybody’s tax data to another person or any foreign agency. The French agency they are taking about cannot have access to the tax data of a single Nigerian so the fears are unfounded.”
COURTESY: TheWhistler
