The Nation Newspaper

Tag: FIRS

  • FIRS generates N5trn, targets N5.3trn by year-end

     

    The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has generated N5 trillion as at the second week of December 2018, its Executive Chairman Tunde Fowler has disclosed.

    By the end of 2018, the agency said it should have made not less than N5.3 trillion.

    Speaking at the induction of new members of the Joint Tax Board (JTB) on Wednesday in Abuja, Fowler said: “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.

    “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 of 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.

    This new development, he said, “indicates that we should be able to develop the ability to accept and embrace positive change, maybe due to the fact that change is inevitable but more significantly that oftentimes, change presents us with the rare breaks that we can exploit to advance individual and collective goals and objectives.”

    The FIRS boss also stated that as the 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.

    Developments in global politics and economics, he noted, “indicate a trend towards increased de-emphasis on proceeds from oil and other commodity exports.

    “Huge investments are being made everyday by more advanced economies towards seeking alternative energy sources; and sooner rather than later, oil as a mainstay of the nation’s economy will indeed no longer be sustainable, it is just a matter of time.”

     

     

  • FIRS urges diversification of revenue sources

    The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has urged the Federal Government to intensify efforts at diversifying revenue sources to support budget.

    Its Executive Chairman, Chairman, Babatunde Fowler, who spoke yesterday  in Abuja at the opening of a two-day second annual meeting of the Nigerian Research Tax Network (NRTN), said: “There is now widespread recognition of the need to diversify the sources of government’s budget.”

    Represented by the Director, Career and Skill Department, Mrs Junila Takon, Fowler said the need for diversification was also important to build a more sustainable revenue base for inclusive growth.

    He said the NRTN conference was aimed at bringing together, stakeholders to showcase the best current researches on the pressing challenges of taxation and revenue in Nigeria.

    He said the NRTN, an initiative of the International Centre for Tax and Development and funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, was launched in 2017 in partnership with the FIRS.

    The network, he added, “aims to provide funding for quality, policy-related research partially, or wholly undertaken by Nigerian researchers. It would also provide a platform for knowledge exchange and evidence-based debate on tax issues through workshops, conferences and publications.”

    Earlier, the Coordinator of NRTN, Michael Falade, said “rigorous research that can inform both tax policy and practice is the key to raising increased tax revenue in an equitable manner without impeding economic growth.”

    Falade lamented that though Nigeria possessed a huge deposit of natural resources, only oil has served as its economic mainstay for a very long time.

    He, however, said other sectors could be developed to maximise what the nation has beyond mineral resources and oil.

    “To a very large extent oil is a major mainstay in many world economies, but to have a sustainable economy, we have to move beyond oil.

    “We cannot just rely on oil; our advocacy is to make the debate around oil and how to really diversify the economy and make practical plans and decisions to put our economy in place,” he said.

    He lamented that reliance on oil had limited the country’s ability to finance and deliver critical social programmes and infrastructure to spur national development.

     

  • FIRS: 114 firms feign ignorance of land allocation

    The Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) said it has uncovered 114 companies feigning ignoranc of  lands allocated to them.

    However, the FIRS has confirmed from the Abuja Geographical Information System (AGIS) that these lands were actually allocated to these companies. The Service has vowed to hand over the culprits to the Attorney General of the Federation for necessary action.

    FIRS Executive Chairman, Tunde Fowler stated this at the African Union high level panel on illicit financial flows from Africa which held in Abuja yesterday.

    He said: “114 Companies claimed they were unaware of land allocated to them, but  AGIS has confirmed the ownership of all the cases referred to them and we will soon hand these cases over to the Attorney General on the way forward.”

    Highlighting the benefits of curbing Illicit Financial Flows, Fowler said the “total tax debt recovered From January 2017 to 31st August 2018 was N3.631billion. Also, N1.9billion was realised from Nov 2016 – Dec 2017, while N1.731 was raked in from January 2018 – to date.

    With regards to the Issuance of tax notification obligation to Company Income Tax (CIT), Non-Compliant Companies that own properties and Identified Non-Filers for Abuja, Fowler the Service has issued 2,672 Demand Notices and realised N2.983billion as total payments for Demand Notices for Abuja Properties

    Fowler identified the Component of Illicit Financial Flows in Nigeria to include: Commercial Activities which are illegal flows from business that lead to hiding wealth, evading, or aggressively avoiding tax, and dodging Customs duties and Domestic Levie.

    He said IFFs are often driven by criminal activities with the purpose of keeping the transactions from the purview of law enforcement agencies, or revenue authorities.

    He said Corruption: Money acquired through bribery and abuse of office by public officials are enormous and can be used to further develop different projects and also increase taxation revenue collection.

    He listed other IFF in Nigeria to include payments of expatriates staff emolument and remuneration, as well as failure to declare personal income tax emoluments to the relevant tax authorities in Nigeria.

    Others are laundering of funds (often sourced illegally) through Real Estates transactions to acquire property in choice locations outside Nigeria; Illegal transfer of money out of Nigeria, via unapproved channels; Mispricing of goods and services transferred between interrelated Nigeria based companies and Individuals to offshore based entities and individuals; Profit Shifting – for instance through excessive interest payments on foreign and locally sourced loans and Mis-invoicing of imports and exports.

    Earlier, former South African President and Chairman, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa’s High Level Panel on IFF, Thabo Mbeki, said that Africa looses about $80 billion annually through IFFs.

    Mbeki,  said the huge sums came from proceeds of commercial transactions through multinational companies, criminal activities and corruption.

    He said illicit financial flow posed developmental challenges on the continent, in terms of draining hard currency reserve, reduced tax collection, deepening income gap, depleting investment and weakened governance.

    He harped on the need to strengthen institutions like the Revenue Service Agencies, Customs Services and the legislation,  to enable them tackle better, incidences of money laundering as well as other forms of IFFs.

    Meanwhile the Minister of Finance, Mrs Zainab Ahmed said that IFFs have robbed Africa of the wealth and resources needed to invest in infrastructure, education, hospitals, electricity and many other necessities for sustainable and inclusive economic development.

    The Minister who was represented by the Permanent Secretary,  Ministry of Finance, Mahmoud Isa-Dutse, said: “The quest for Africa’s economic development will be accelerated if funds illegally acquired, stolen and hidden abroad by illicit finance flow perpetrators are repatriated.

    “Our development will no doubt receive a leap if Multinational Corporations desist from illicit activities of aggressive transfer pricing, base erosion, profit shifting and trade mispricing.

    “As indicated in the 2015 High Level Panel Report, the challenge of combatting IFFs is particularly pronounced in countries such as Nigeria, due to the dominance of the extractive industries in the economy, she said.

    “In this regard, the work of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), which I used to head, as well as the Federal Inland Revenue Service, whose operations the Ministry of Finance oversees, are relevant,” she said.

    Ahmed also said that to address IFFs within the context of taxation, the FIRS, several years ago, introduced Transfer Pricing Regulations to curb the incidence of aggressive transfer pricing practices and enthrone the “Arms-length” Principle in the cross-border trade practices of multinational corporations, as well as indigenous firms.

    In addition, she said that the Voluntary Asset and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS) initiative which ended in June 2018, was a tax amnesty programme aimed at raising tax revenues, regularising the tax status of citizens and bringing concealed tax assets into the national tax base.

    “Furthermore, the Federal Government is collaborating with several countries in terms of sharing information on Nigerians who own properties and bank accounts abroad.

    “We also run a programme for the Automatic Exchange of Tax Information with the United Kingdom.

    “In addition, we have signed agreements on the Multilateral Competent Authority on the Common Reporting Standard which is a platform for exchange of financial accounts information.

    “This will come into effect as soon as the legal framework is finalised,” she said.

    Ahmed also informed the panel that in July 2018, President Muhammadu Buhari signed the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) Bill into law.

    She said that the NFIU would ensure autonomous and independent agency monitoring of cross-border financial flows with a view to identifying and intercepting suspicious transfers.

    The Unit is also empowered to fight the funding of criminal activities, money laundering and terrorism through the international and domestic financial system.

     

    “To aid us in our efforts, it will be appreciated if the HLP will share its experiences in domesticating international best practices in the key sectors of our economy with respect to IFFs.

     

    “In this regard, Nigeria stands to gain much from initiatives such as the European Union’s country-by-country reporting (CbCR) transparency measures. By requiring companies that are of a particular size or operate in certain industries to publish operational and tax data for each country in which they do business.

     

    “Governments such as ours would be better equipped to check the incidence of aggressive tax-planning strategies, adopt more targeted and risk-based tax audits, and persuade large multinational corporations to voluntarily reduce the magnitude of their tax avoidance,” she said.

     

    Also, the Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami said that Nigeria had put in place institutions, legislations and technology expertise to minimise IFFs in the country.

     

    “We established the EFCC, ICPC, Code of Conduct Bureau, Code of Conduct Tribunal and the Financial Intelligence Unit, and backed them with laws, to ensure that Nigeria wins the fight against corruption and IFFs.

     

    “We have also deployed technology in this fight.  For example, we have deployed BVN in the banking sector, to identify the real owners of bank accounts.

     

    “Also, the TSA and the IPPIS were deployed to ensure that the Federal Government resources are prudently managed,” he said.

  • FIRS rakes in N13b from billionaire tax debtors

    THE rich are embracing the Federal Government’s tax message – less than a month after billionaire tax evaders got a warning to pay up or face sanctions.

    The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has raked in N12.66 billion from such billionaires who hitherto refused to file their tax papers.

    FIRS’ Executive Chairman Tunde Fowler broke the news at the weekend when he received Finance Minister Hajia Zainab Ahmed, who was on a familiarisation visit to the Revenue House FIRS Headquarters in Abuja.

    Hajia Ahmed commended the agency for shoring-up non-oil revenue.

    She said: “The Ministry of Finance will continue to work collaboratively with FIRS to support all the efforts that you are doing. And as much as possible, we should interface frequently.

    “For us, the directive I have is to increase the tax revenue and that is the most important task ahead of all of us. You have done well. And the reward for good work is more work.”

    The minister urged the agency to “maintain the tempo” because literarily, the country depends on FIRS to shore up the revenue collection to support the government.

    She encouraged other government agencies to work together to fish out all corrupt individuals, adding that “this is President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive”.

    “The FIRS is a very important agency of government. I wanted to underscore this importance. FIRS is one of the first agencies in the Ministry of Finance that I am meeting.

    “The government’s Medium Term Plan is hinged on diversifying the economy from oil revenue to the non-oil sector. And the report that the executive chairman of FIRS has presented indicates that the diversification effort is working. This is reflected in the turn of the contribution of non-oil revenues over the last three years.

    “I am happy that we have a team in FIRS that is not only expanding the revenue base but also significantly improving tax collection and taking tax offices closer to the people and making it easier for the people to pay their taxes by online and e-tax payment procedures that you have undertaken. And I am sure that, from what I have heard today, that you would continue with all these processes.

    ”I am also glad that you are increasing cooperation with several agencies, like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).

    “This is important because the directive from the President for anti-corruption involves cooperation within yourselves as well as with anti-corruption agencies. It makes a lot of sense to priotise tax collection to larger categories: from the big ones to other ones.

    “The effort you are doing in Abuja, Lagos and Osun – on payment of taxes on property using their turnover as basis for assessment – is a commendable one and I encourage you to maintain the tempo in generating tax revenues.”

    The FIRS initiated the substitution of the bank accounts of high net-worth billionaire tax defaulters about a month ago.

    Fowler told the minister that the initiative has pooled about N12. 66 billion into the government coffers.

    He said: “FIRS wrote to all commercial banks in May 2018, requesting for a list of companies, partnerships, and enterprises with a banking turnover of N1 billion and above.

    “This activity is aimed at ascertaining those companies that are compliant with the tax laws and those that are not compliant. So far, non-compliant organisation has paid about N12.66 billion.

    “The FIRS will continue to implement initiatives that will drive compliance and generate revenue by continuous taxpayer enlightenment, implementation of the Auto VAT Collect in other sectors of the economy, simplification of the tax processes, especially for small taxpayers, strengthening collaborations with other agencies such as CAC, States Boards of Internal Revenue, ministry of Trade & Investment, Nigeria Customs Service”, Fowler said.

    The FIRS chairman also told the minister that the Service realised N2.983 billion from payment on demand notices on property owners who are being assessed based on their turnover and that 653 of 2, 672 of such non-filers have starting filing now.

    From enforcement, Fowler said that FIRS has collected N47.5 billion from 2016 till date and $32.8 million, 5.9 pounds, netted N225 billion from audit and has collected more than N1 trillion above its January to August collection last year (2017).

    He said that FIRS’ collection of N4.03 trillion in 2017 has 62.25 per cent as non-oil while oil was just 37.75 per cent.

    It was 64.99 in favour of non-oil in 2016 and 35.01 for oil. This year, the FIRS has done 54.56 per cent for non-oil and 45.44 per cent for oil receipts.

    Fowler added that Value Added Tax (VAT) receipt has been rising.

    “So far in 2018, the FIRS has collected N773.49 billion in eight months. The above collected this year has already surpassed that of 2015 (N767.33 billion), and the agency is set to surpass 2016 (N828.19 billion) and 2017 (N972.30 billion) with four more collection months left in the year”, Fowler said.

  • Increase tax revenue to fund education, Actionaid tasks govt

    The Country Director, Actionaid Nigeria, Mrs Ene Obi has urged federal and state governments to take decisive steps to increase the funds allocated to the education sector in order to improve the quality of education.

    Obi said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria  on Monday in Lagos on the sidelines of a workshop on Breaking Barriers for Girl’s Education.

    She tasked the governments to break the barriers to quality public education by improving tax revenue, particularly corporate tax, as a way of providing sustainable funding to the sector.

    She listed some of the barriers to public primary education as poor school infrastructure, violence and discrimination, failure to recruit and retain good quality teachers among others.

    “If states commit to finding resources to increase the size of their education budget for globally agreed targets, all children including the poorest and most marginalised will enjoy free, quality public education,” Obi said.

    Obi revealed that Actionaid had received 6.2 million dollars grant from the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) to influence policy making and initiatives to increase the size and share of education budget.
    In addition, she said the project aimed at ensuring the public education system became more responsive to the needs of girls and marginalised children.

    NAN reports that about 10.5 million children are out of school in Nigeria, with the country investing only about seven per cent of its budget on education, short of the UNESCO 20 per cent benchmark.

    Experts observe that there is a link between the crumbling education service and evasion of tax by local and multinational companies in Nigeria.

    They note that money accruing from a proper tax regime can be useful in addressing infrastructure deficit in Nigeria’s education sector.

    Statistics obtained from the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) show that out of the 450,000 limited liability companies operating in Nigeria, no fewer than 125,000 representing 27.7 per cent pay any form of taxes.

    Dr Charles Nwaobia, an education stakeholder, observed that the Education Tax Act indicated that government intended to have a sustainable education system funded through tax.

    He said the tax imposed by the act was meant to fund the federal, states and local government educational institutions, including primary and secondary schools.

    “Two per cent shall be charged on the assessable profit of a company registered in Nigeria.

    “The Federal Board of Inland Revenue shall assess and collect from a company the tax imposed by this act.

    “Accordingly, the higher education shall receive 50 per cent, primary education 30 per cent; and secondary education shall receive 20 per cent of the total tax collected in any one year,” Nwaobia said, citing a portion of the act.

    Nwaobia said the number of companies that were taxed would determine the amount of money put into the education system.

  • FIRS plans nationwide tax audit

    The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has said the agency would commence tax audit across the country.

    The FIRS Executive Chairman,  Tunde Fowler who disclosed this yesterday in Lagos , said the  meeting was to the impact of taxation  on the country’s revenue and how tax administration could be enhanced to meet the revenue requirements of the country.

    Fowler said that the nationwide tax audit would ensure increased tax revenue collection, improved service delivery to taxpayers and enhanced voluntary compliance.

    Fowler, who is also the Chairman of Joint Tax Board (JTB) said the board was determined to improve service to taxpayers at all levels and that a consolidated Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) Data Base was already in place under the JTB.

    The FIRS boss said that all tax laws that were not in the interest of the taxpayers are already undergoing a process of review and that taxpayers and stakeholders must support tax authorities in the interest of the nation’s development.

    “The greatest challenge for any tax administration is achieving and maintaining a high degree of self-assessment and voluntary compliance by taxpayers.

    Studies however show that the extent to which an economy is able to grow sustainably and develop depends to a large extent on its ability to generate tax revenue to finance its expenditure and the efficiency of its tax system.

    ‘The questions that arise from these simple statements include how to identify areas of non-compliance; how to measure the level of non-compliance; and how to address the non-compliance.

    “FIRS has put in place various strategies and initiatives to cushion this effect and ensure that we are able to improve tax revenue collection on a sustainable basis. Well-designed taxpayer services, education programs, and creative measures can facilitate self-assessment and compliance.’’ He explained.

    Fowler noted that the major determinant of tax compliance included changes in law, taxpayers’ attitudes to payment of right taxes and tax consultants offering the right advise to taxpaying public.

    At the event, some of the stakeholders raised concerns regarding the number of taxes and levies being collected and levied by different government agencies which were mostly not remitted completely.

    They commended FIRS for its effort towards deepen tax administration, but stressed the need for a regular interaction among stakeholders so as to improve voluntary tax compliance.

    Stakeholders at the event included officials from Ministry Departments and Agencies (MDAs), Labour Unions, Tax Consultants, Organised Private Sectors across the nation.

     

  • LCCI faults FIRS on freezing tax defaulters’ accounts

    The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has faulted the  decision of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to appoint banks as collecting agents and freezing the accounts of tax defaulters.

    Its Director-General, Muda Yusuf, said the move was premised on the powers conferred on it by Section 31 of the FIRS Act, which gives it power to appoint collection agents for the recovery of tax payable by the taxpayer.

    While urgin discretion and caution before its implementation, he said the provision is draconian and could be used as a tool to intimidate, coerce and harass taxpayers

    He said LCCI is a strong proponent of regulatory compliance by private sector players but noted, however, that it was important to understand that tax administration should agree with  the rule of law and the fundamental principles of a good tax system.

    He said: “Tax administration should be consistent with the basic principles of equity, fairness, legality and accountability.  LCCI is concerned about the recent turn of events, especially the freezing of accounts of bank customers based on tax assessments that are in dispute.  This development raises a number of key concerns which need to be urgently addressed.”

    He faulted the propriety of appointing banks as ‘Collecting Agents’ by the FIRS, given the strategic and catalytic role of the banks  in business operations, financial intermediation and transactions among economic players.

    He called for an exhaustive engagement between the tax authorities and the taxpayer, noting that the legality of freezing the accounts of bank customers by banks on the directive of FIRS for alleged tax liability, given the contractual relationship between the banks and their customers should be studied.

  • FIRS to GE: show evidence of $2m tax remittenace

    The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has demanded evidence that General Electric International Operations Nigeria Ltd remitted the excessive tax it withheld from Arco Group Plc, a Nigerian oil servicing company, for nine years.

    It was  alleged that GE withheld tax of over $3 million from its payments to Arco for services rendered between 2006 and 2015.

    GE deducted 10 per cent as withholding tax for a servicing contract from 2006 to 2015 — as against the five per cent stipulated by Nigerian laws.

    Arco had petitioned FIRS seeking explanation over the deductions, and the Executive Chairman, Tunde Fowler, wrote five per cent while the one for rental accommodation was 10 per cent.

    Not satisfied with Fowler’s response, GE engaged the services of tax consultants, PricewaterhouseCoopers Ltd, who insisted that what Arco offered was “technical services” and the appropriate rate was 10 per cent.

    PwC contended that Arco’s services rendered by manpower were technical in nature because of the involvement of “craftsmen” and “technical specialists”.

    According to The Cable, in the letter written by PwC’s Director of Tax and Regulatory Services, Chijioke Uwaegbute, the consultants said five per cent was the applicable rate, the revenue service should confirm the treatment of the excessive deductions.

    Fowler, in his response dated July 26, 2018, said the FIRS circular in question classified the supply of personnel, personnel protective equipment and uniforms, office equipment and furniture, vehicles and fueling as contained in the contract document could only be charged five per cent withholding tax (WHT).

    The deductible rate for site accommodation or rent, he said, was 10 per cent.

    Fowler then demanded evidence that GE remitted the WHT deducted from Arco over the nine-year period.

    Arco can apply for a refund of the excess deduction, he said, “so long there is evidence of remittance to FIRS account”.

    He further said GE must make available to Arco “all outstanding WHT Credit Notes in respect of remittances made in its favour”.

    General Electric previously said it would not comment “due to the confidentiality provisions” governing the contract it had with Arco.

    The sums in contention are €56,577.61, $2,923,642.36  and N360,482,041.19.

  • AGF overpaid FIRS, DPR by N837bn in 2016 – OAuGF

    The recent report of the year 2016 Federal Government Financial Statement submitted by the Auditor General for the Federation, Mr. Anthony Ayine, to the National Assembly has revealed discrepancies in the amount payable to the Federal Inland Revenue Service ( FIRS) and Department of Petroleum Resources ( DPR).

    The whooping amount of N837,082,637.24 was paid in lump sum to the Federal Inland Revenue Service ( FIRS) and Development of Petroleum Resources ( DPR).

    The Report said:” Our examination of the Accountant-General’s Transcript and FAAC figures revealed that the FIRS and DPR were over paid cost of collection in the month August 2016 in the amounts of N305,922,200.48 and N531,160,436.78 respectively totaling N837,082,637.24.

    “It was observed that what was captured in the Accountant-General’s Transcript as payments for the month of August for FIRS and DPR as cost of collection differs from what FAAC approved in the FAAC file.

    “It is expected that only figures approved by FAAC are to be paid by the Accountant-General of the Federation. The difference resulted in overpayments of N837,082,637.24 by the Accountant-General to the two collecting agencies.”

    Read Also: NNPC, DPR to explain zero collection of revenue – AuGF

    Statutorily, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) receives 4% of the monthly revenue as its cost of collection. Also, the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) receives 4% of monthly revenue it generates from Royalties on crude oil and gas concessions, rentals, gas flaring penalties, among others.

    Also, concerning the maintenance of excess crude oil/ppt/royalty account without legal authority, the report by the OAGF has shown that the Excess Crude Account (ECA), revealed that a sum of N361,230,422,517.15 was deducted from total Oil and Gas revenue collected before the balance was paid to the Federation Account.

    The report said: “Examination of records and documents presented to the Audit Team in respect of the Excess Crude Account (ECA), revealed that a sum of N361,230,422,517.15 summarized below and classified as PPT/Royalty was deducted from total Oil and Gas revenue collected before the balance was paid to the Federation Account.

    “These deductions would appear to contravene the provisions of Section 162 (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 which states as amended.

  • Importers fault revenue target for NCS, FIRS

    Importers and the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) have faulted the revenue targets given by the Federal government to the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and other government agencies at ports.

    One of the importers and a member of the group, Chief Michael Adejare said there were negative manifestations in the manner of import valuation by the Customs.

    “Reports reaching the chamber indicate many instances of upward review of values of imports in complete disregard to the values of invoices of such imports.

    “Importers have been made to pay import duty and other charges that are far beyond what they ordinarily should have paid. Many investors have suffered untold hardship as a result of this practice, especially when there is no effective dispute resolution system in place,” he said.

    Adejare said the idea of giving targets to revenue-generating agencies could result in some unintended consequences.

    In view of dwindling crude oil revenue, The NCS and the FIRS, have been given  targets.

    Another importer, Dr Badmus Solomon said there is a risk that best practice principles will be compromised by the agencies in their desperation to meet targets.

    He noted that the downward trend of oil prices in the international market is a setback for the economy.

    Solomon said the scenario of sliding oil price has implications for the capacity of the government to meet their statutory obligations.

    He said: “On top of that, we are struggling with the problem of crude oil theft, which is taking its toll on output. For an economy that is 95 per cent dependent on oil for its foreign exchange earnings and 85 per cent dependent for revenue, this development should be a cause for concern,” he said.