The National Assembly has raised the revenue target for the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) following revelations by Executive Chairman, Zacch Adedeji, that it had surpassed its 2024 revenue collection target, exceeding the ₦19.4 trillion target set in the 2024 Appropriation Act.
During a presentation on Wednesday by the FIRS boss on the agency’s performance and future projections, the National Assembly’s joint Committee on Finance proposed a ₦ 25 trillion revenue target for FIRS in the 2025 fiscal year.
Deputy Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Finance, Hon. Saidu Musa Abdullahi, lauded the agency’s performance as “unprecedented, encouraging the agency to study South Africa’s tax collection model, which generates higher revenues despite a significantly smaller population.”
“We shall give you total support on your tax reform, but you need to bring more taxable citizens into the net from the informal sector.”
However, a lawmaker, Hon. Benedict Sapele expressed slight dissatisfaction, noting that the FIRS is capable of deepening its tax net and ramping its current figures to ₦60 trillion in 2025, noting that ‘if we do well, we will not borrow to fund our budget’.
In response, Adedeji stated that having multiple agencies collecting taxes often leads to leakages, which can be mitigated through the passage of the progressive tax bill.
“I am not in support of taxing the informal sector without first formalizing it. We need to transition the informal sector into the formal economy before implementing tax measures. Our focus should be on expanding the taxpayer base,” he said.
