The National Assembly Joint Committee on Finance yesterday commended the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) for surpassing its target last year.
The FIRS got a N19.4 trillion revenue target in 2024 but succeeded in generating N21.6 trillion. Impressed by the performance, the panel proposed a N25 trillion tax collection or revenue generation target for the FIRS in the 2025 appropriation bill.
The Deputy Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Finance, Saidu Musa Abdullahi, described the performance by the FIRS as unprecedented.
He said, “The feat attained by FIRS on revenue collection or generation in 2024 was unprecedented and a very wonderful one, worthy of commendation.
“That you surpassed the target set for the agency in the 2024 Appropriation Act, from N19.4trillion to N21.6 trillion is very cheering and encouraging.”
He, however, urged the FIRS boss to understudy the template being used in South Africa which according to him, generates revenue from tax collections far above that of Nigeria.
He said the South Africans achieved that despite having a smaller population of about 45 to 54 million people when compared to Nigeria’s population of 200 million.
