•I will block leakages — Adedeji
The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Mr. Zacchaeus Adedeji as Chairman of the federal government revenue-earning agency, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS).
His appointment was consequent on the retirement of the immediate past chairman of the agency, Muhammad Nami.
Making presentations before the lawmakers during his screening session, Adedeji attributed the leakages in revenue earnings to a lack of data on the finances of local and foreign firms operating in Nigeria.
“We will improve our data mining capacity. We will develop the data upon which will we make decisions on taxes,” he said.
Specifically on leakages in the upstream sector of the oil and gas industry, the Chairman of the FIRS noted that proper data “will enable sufficient information on the exact number of vessels of crude brought into the county and the concomitant tax. The data would also be used to identify those in affluence who pay insufficient tax.”
Adedeji promised to create a robust data system that tracks the number of crude oil vessels entering the country and the corresponding taxes.
He also assured the lawmakers that his leadership would look into the Federal Government’s tax credit scheme, which grants some corporations tax holidays in exchange for the provision of infrastructure.
