The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and other key revenue-generating agencies of the Federal Government, such as the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC)- formerly Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR)-received a total of N144.87 billion as revenue collection cost from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) in the first two months of this year, Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meetings’ communiqués for the period, show.

The amount is N68.26 billion or 89.09 per cent higher than the N76.61 billion that the agencies got as collection cost in the corresponding period of 2023. New Telegraph’s analysis of the FAAC communiqués indicates that revenue collection cost for the agencies stood at N78.41 billion and N66.46 billion in January and February this year respectively, compared to N42.57 billion (January 2023) and N34.05 billion (February 2023). Further analysis of the data shows that the agencies’ collection cost has consistently headed north in the last few years with the FIRS as the main revenue generating agency of the government, receiving the highest collection cost.

For instance, while the FIRS received the sum of N102.32 billion as collection cost in 2019, the NCS and DPR got N63.25 billion and N54.82 billion respectively. Also, in 2020, the Service received the sum of N111.97 billion as cost of collection, the NCS recorded N70.67 billion while the then DPR got N46.19 billion. Similarly, in 2021, FIRS’ collection cost stood at N145.89 billion, the NCS recorded N100.03 billion while the DPR received N83.45 billion. Equally, the data for 2022 shows that the FIRS received N200.16 billion as collection cost, the NCS got N128.64 billion while the NUPRC (former DPR) recorded N98.01 billion.

New Telegraph reports that amid growing calls for the country’s new government to adopt measures to ensure efficient revenue collection by its agents, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, while speaking at the budget defence session held by the House of Representatives Committee on Finance, on December 12, last year, proposed a unified revenue collection system, that would see the FIRS collecting revenues on behalf of the NCS and other revenue-generating agencies. Responding to a question from a member of the committee on whether the FIRS and NCS could be merged into a single entity or agency, Edun said that that there was no reason why all revenue charging agencies should also be saddled with collecting revenues.

“In terms of the merger, what you are really indicating and speaking to is the fact that revenue collection should be through a focal point. “They can pay to a centralised point, the Federal Internal Revenue Service. They can collect on behalf of all the agencies. So these are the types of innovations, these are types of efficiencies and improvements that we must look at. “I am just agreeing wholeheartedly with you that given this day and age, given the technological advancement, given the digital tools available, we really should be doing better in terms of revenue generation, collection and monitoring,” the Finance Minister said.

In the same vein, the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Tax Policy and Fiscal Reforms, Taiwo Oyedele, said on a TV programme, on August 9, that the FIRS was best suited to collect revenue for the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). He noted that Nigeria’s revenue collection from taxes was one of the lowest in the world, despite the country’s revenue generating agencies receiving a significantly high cost of collection. Oyedele stated: “Ironically, our cost of collection is one of the highest. And the reason for that is that we’ve got all manners of agencies. The Federal Government alone, we have 63 MDAs that were given revenue targets last year, no; actually in the 2023 budget.

“Two things that would come up from that: on one hand, these agencies are being distracted from doing their primary function which is to facilitate the economy. Number two, they were not set up to collect revenue, so, they won’t be able to collect revenue efficiently. “So, move those revenue collection functions to the FIRS. It has two advantages: the cost of collection and efficiency will improve, these guys will focus on their work, and the economy will benefit as a result. “If you are Customs, focus on trade facilitation, border protection and if you are NCC (Nigerian Communications Commission), just regulate telecommunications. You are not set up to collect revenue. “It can be your revenue and someone else can collect it for you. There will be more transparency because you see what is being collected and is accounted for properly.”

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