Chairman of the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Chief Elias Mbam, has commended the efforts of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) towards revenue generation, stating that the agency contributed 59.7 per cent revenues to Federation Account in the last three months.
Mbam made the disclosure recently when he led a team of RMAFC Commissioners and other management members on a visit to FIRS Headquarters in Abuja.
“I want to observe with pleasure that in the last three months, the FIRS has been the major contributor to the Federation Account. The average contribution from the FIRS in the last three months is about 59.7 per cent. In other words, more than half of the revenue shared to the three tiers of government comes from the FIRS. So, I thank you for that effort,” Mbam said.
The RMAFC boss said the visit was to ensure that RMAFC commissioners and members of management understand the revenue landscape and familiarise themselves with major stakeholders of the commission.
“We are here to familiarise ourselves with your activities, to know areas of collaboration, your challenges, which we will also help to pass to the federal government. We also want to know where we can be of help. We are all working for the same government and our work is collaborative,” he added.
FIRS Chairman, Mr. Tunde Fowler, in his response, stated that the FIRS would continue do its best to generate revenue to fund the three tiers of government.
“We have always told ourselves that the job we do is for the love of the country. We will continue to deliver quality services in tax administration in Nigeria.
“We are deploying technologies to make it easy for taxpayers to pay their taxes conveniently, even from the comfort of their homes or offices, download tax receipts and do other transaction with FIRS without visiting the tax office.
“We know the need for increased revenues to the government and we will continue do our best to fund the three tiers of government,” Fowler said.
While presenting a book on President Muhammadu Buhari titled: “Taxpayers are King” to Mbam, Fowler said FIRS adopted the book to underscore the selfless service of the President to Nigeria.
“President Muhammadu Buhari has demonstrated an uncommon love for this country. His love for the country led him to the military where he served very well and become the military Head of State.”
“His passion for Nigeria prompted him to seek election to become a civilian president.
“He had gone as long as determining to lay down his life to look for the interest of the people of this country. The style of President Buhari is what we are adopting in FIRS. We make it clear to ourselves that our job must be for the love of the country,” Fowler added.
Source: ThisDay
