The Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Alh. Muhammad Nami is presiding over the 2020 FIRS Corporate Plan Retreat at the Transcorp Hilton Abuja with participants and guests from all works of the Nigerian society.
The discussions here will weigh on the importance and role of the FIRS in fulfilling their mandate and achieving a prosperous Nigeria.
While speaking at the retreat, Muhammad Nami highlighted the plans of the FIRS in the coming year, the new administration and its commitment to the service and also how it intends to reach its N8.5Trillion target
Here are 6 quotes from the points made by the FIRS Executive Chairman, Muhammad Nami:
1 – “Since I assumed office as the Executive Chairman, we have revised the organizational structure of the Service to reflect Management aspirations, reviewed TCC’s administration process and issuance programme to general public, reviewed and redesigned tax audit and investigation functions. Currently, we are reviewing all lien cases with a view to closing them and introducing new enforcement strategies.”
2 – “ “FIRS plays a strategic role in the nation’s political economy, including supporting the actualization of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration’s commitment of moving the country up on the Ease of Doing Business Ranking, taking 100 million Nigerians out of poverty over the next 10 years and rebuilding Nigeria’s critical infrastructure by generating sufficient revenue through expanding the tax net and efficient service delivery.”
3 – “The repositioning of the Service would be anchored on four cardinal pillars:
– Rebuilding FIRS’ Institutional Framework
– Robust Collaboration with Stakeholders
– Building a Customer (Taxpayer)-Centric Institution
– Data-Centric Institution.”
4 – “We have initiated several reform projects with a view to reversing our current under- performance level to a more acceptable one. We have agreed with my team that in the next four years we will improve our performance on a long term and sustainable basis. We have given ourselves a minimum target of $5million staff-to-revenue ratio and 10% tax-to-GDP ratio over the next four years.”
5 – “For the year 2020, we have a target of =N=8.5trillion which is slightly lower than the 2019 target by =N=300billion. … Looking at our performance in the recent past, one may look at the 2020 target as ambitious, but I can assure you that it is achievable especially with the ongoing reforms and business process re-engineering that are taking place in the Service.”
6 – “… if we are able to detect and block tax avoidance schemes by Multinational Corporations, that will also go a long way to improve our tax revenue collection..”
Many who are attending the 3 Day retreat – from policy makers, journalists, legislators, Finance sector experts among others – have described both Nami and the new FIRS as apt, delivery focused, vibrant, and dependable.
