Presidential Council recommends merger of NIMASA, Customs, FIRS
A Presidential Advisory Council has advised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to merge the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) into the Nigerian Revenue Service.
The merger, according to the council, will aid the collection of all direct and indirect taxes and levies on behalf of the federal government. The council therefore advised the passage of an emergency economic reform bill to grant the president special powers to drive the economic reform agenda.
The advisory council, put together by Mr Tinubu to support the delivery of sustainable and inclusive economic growth, consists of Tokunbo Abiru (chair), Yemi Cardoso, Sumaila Zubairu and Doris Anite, with KPMG listed as consultant.
The council recommended improved tax collection by restructuring and automating key revenue-generating agencies within the next three to four years and improve tax collection in the country.
The advise was contained in a document that focuses on fiscal and monetary policies, industry, trade and capital market reforms. It also emphasised that changes in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and temporary increases in fiscal circuit breakers, would help achieve a GDP growth of one trillion naira and create over 50 million jobs in eight years.
One of the key suggestions is to identify, map, and consolidate the revenue collection function across crucial revenue generating agencies with the implementation of end-to-end automation for all taxes and levies, coupled with the utilisation of advanced big data analytics for improved tax collection.
