President Tinubu Proposes Single Revenue Agency to Boost Collection

In a bid to enhance revenue collection, President Bola Tinubu has introduced a plan to establish a single agency, the Nigeria Revenue Service, to handle revenue collection on behalf of the Federal Government. This move is part of a comprehensive set of tax reforms aimed at streamlining the tax collection process and maximizing revenue generation to support public services and infrastructure development.

The proposed reforms will bar 62 revenue-generating agencies, including the Nigerian Customs Service and Nigerian Ports Authority, from participating in revenue collection activities. Instead, their revenue collection arms will be transferred to the Nigeria Revenue Service. According to a Presidency source, “There is no merger of agencies. The bill will only take the revenue collection arm of each agency involved and take it to the Nigerian Revenue Service.”

The new agency will be modeled after revenue agencies in the US and UK, focusing on collecting all government revenues while other agencies concentrate on their core mandates, such as trade facilitation.

President Tinubu has forwarded four executive bills to the National Assembly to implement these reforms. The bills include the Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Bill, Nigeria Tax Bill, Nigeria Tax Administration Bill, and Joint Revenue Board Establishment Bill.

The Nigeria Tax Bill seeks to provide a consolidated fiscal framework for taxation, while the Nigeria Tax Administration Bill aims to ensure fair, consistent, and efficient administration of tax laws. The Joint Revenue Board Establishment Bill proposes the creation of a Tax Tribunal and Tax Ombudsman to resolve disputes arising from revenue administration.

Tinubu emphasized that the proposed tax bills would promote taxpayer compliance, strengthen fiscal institutions, and foster a more effective and transparent fiscal regime. “I am confident that the bills, when passed, will encourage investment, boost consumer spending, and stimulate Nigeria’s economic growth,” he stated.

The House of Representatives has consolidated six bills seeking to repeal the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007, to enact the Fiscal Responsibility Bill, 2024. The bill aims to ensure prudent management of the nation’s resources and promote long-term macro-economic stability.

Taiwo Oyedele, Chairman of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, noted that fiscal reforms are necessary to protect small businesses, the vulnerable, and the poor while effectively taxing the rich. “Revenue transformation means we can no longer continue to celebrate incremental progress. We need to take the burden away from vulnerable people, small businesses, and let the middle class and the rich who can afford to pay do so.”

The proposed reforms align with the recommendations of the President Tinubu Policy Advisory Council, which suggested declaring a state of emergency on revenue generation in the country.