Lucky Obukohwo, Reporting
The Chairman, Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Mohammed Shehu, has rated the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Nigeria Customs Service(NCS) high for meeting up with their revenue generation targets.
He disclosed this while speaking with newsmen in Abuja.
According to him “Obviously, there are agencies that did very well especially the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS). They actually exceeded their target for this year.
“One agency that didn’t do very well is Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPR NURPC failed to meet its targetC). They were hovering around 43 per cent or 53 per cent.
“Of course, the solid mineral sector that is still at an infancy stage in terms of the amount of money that comes into the federation account.
Obviously, it’s not as much as expected. Customs performed well but they did not do as well as FIRS,” Shehu said.
The chairman, while speaking on the issue of subsidy before its removal, said that, not only that the government was subsidizing for Nigerians, it was equally subsidizing for the entire West African sub-region.
“The nation can no longer afford that kind of money to be given in and out. It’s going to run us into bankruptcy. It’s not only in Nigeria that we have been subsidizing but the entire West African sub-region.
“And if you look at the consumption rate, it has been brought down by about 10 per cent. Over the years, about 30 percent to 40 percent of whatever is produced from Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is taken outside to Cameroon, Niger and Benin.
“So, people were making money. So, the subsidy that is removed will free some money for various projects in Nigeria.
“One of the greatest problems of Nigeria is infrastructure deficit– no good roads, rail lines, schools, hospitals. After the removal of subsidy, there would be more money for sharing not only to local governments and states but even to the Federal Government.
“That will allow the system to do more projects. So, in terms of revenue generation, obviously there will be more revenues to be shared among the three tiers of governments,” Shehu said.