Economy
FIRS Will Become Sole Collector of Taxes in Nigeria—Oyedele
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian government revealed that the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) would become the sole collector of all taxes in the country, eliminating that functionality from other agencies like the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
This was disclosed by Mr Taiwo Oyedele, the head of the Presidential Committee on Tax Policy and Fiscal Reforms, in an interview with Channels TV on Wednesday.
He said this means customs can now focus on trade facilitation and border protection, and NCC on regulating telecommunications as they are not set up to collect revenue.
In the interview, Mr Oyedele noted that Nigeria’s revenue from taxes is one of the lowest in the world.
“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 in the 2023 budget.
“And two things that would come up from that: on the 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,” he said.
Mr Oyedele noted that this means these agencies will focus on service delivery and less on raising revenue.
“If you are customs, focus on trade facilitation, and border protection, and if you are NCC, 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 will see what is being collected and is accounted for properly. It is also a way of holding ourselves to account as to how we spend the money we collect from the people,” the tax expert stated.
He added that he expects pushback from stakeholders and others benefitting from the process, but the committees would stick to its sole objective and added the presidential committee would look into excess bank charges.
He also pointed out that Nigeria has a significant tax gap estimated in the region of N20 trillion, urging that we need to focus more on the few major taxes – Value Added Tax, Corporate Income Tax, and Personal Income Tax.
“A lot of people are not (tax) compliant, particularly the middle class and the elite, some of them are in the tax net with one or two fingers, you pay a thousand naira as tax when you should have paid N10 million,” he said.
“In fact, we plan to repeal many of the taxes that currently make doing business difficult without introducing new ones and yet collect more,” he further disclosed.
Last month, President Bola Tinubu approved the establishment of a Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, and on Tuesday, he inaugurated the team, tasking them to break the cycle of overreliance on borrowing for public spending that results in the burden of debt servicing.
He also said that the Federal Government was moving towards achieving an 18 per cent Tax-to-GDP ratio within three years.
The President directed the committee to achieve its one-year mandate, which is divided into three main areas: fiscal governance, tax reforms, and growth facilitation.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Revenue from Company Income Tax (CIT) in the fourth quarter of 2025 decreased by 49.8 per cent to N1.487 trillion from N2.96 trillion in the third quarter of 2025, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The figure was contained in the NBS Company Income Tax (CIT) Q4 2025 Report released in Abuja on Wednesday by the stats office.
CIT is a statutory levy imposed on the profits of incorporated businesses in Nigeria. It is governed primarily by the Companies Income Tax Act (CITA) and administered by the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS).
The report said domestic CIT received was N819.83 billion (55 per cent), while foreign CIT payment was N668.21 billion (45 per cent) in Q4 2025.
It said on a quarter-on-quarter basis, activities of extraterritorial organisations and bodies recorded the highest growth rate with 75.15 per cent,
The report said this was followed by Education and real estate activities at 54.20 per cent and 27.25 per cent, respectively.
“On the other hand, accommodation and food services activities recorded the least growth rate at -67.11 per cent, followed by activities of households as employers, undifferentiated goods and services producing activities of households for own use at -63.49 per cent.
“It said mining quarrying was recorded at -49.63 per cent.”
In terms of sectoral contributions, the report showed that the top three activities with the highest contribution in Q4 2025 were financial and insurance activities at 18.17 per cent, manufacturing at 17.30 per cent and mining and quarrying at 15.04 per cent.
It said, on the other hand, the activities of households as employers, undifferentiated goods and 0.002 per cent.
“This was followed by water supply, sewage, waste management and remediation activities with 0.04 per cent.
The report, however, said that, on a year-on-year basis, CIT collections in Q4 2025 increased by 13.38 per cent from Q4 2024.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The World Bank has warned that Nigeria’s economic recovery has yet to improve household welfare as wage growth continues to lag behind inflation, leaving real incomes under pressure.
This was disclosed in its April 2026 Nigeria Development Update titled Nigeria’s Tomorrow Must Start Today: The Case for Early Childhood Development.
According to the report, while the Nigerian economy recorded moderate growth in 2026, following expansions of 4.1 per cent in 2024 and 4.0 per cent in 2025, the gains have not translated into improved living standards for most citizens.
It stated that growth was largely driven by the services sector, particularly ICT, financial services, and real estate, while agriculture and crude oil production made modest contributions.
On inflation, the report said price pressures have eased but remain in double digits, partly due to the impact of the Middle East conflict.
The lender noted that multidimensional poverty and weak early childhood development outcomes are threatening Nigeria’s long-term economic potential, despite signs of macroeconomic recovery.
The report explained that Nigeria is facing a deep early childhood development crisis, with poor outcomes in health, nutrition, and learning undermining productivity and future growth.
It emphasised that early childhood development, especially from pregnancy to age five, is critical to reversing the trend.
“Investments during this period generate lasting benefits, including better education outcomes, higher earnings, lower health costs, and stronger social cohesion. Investments during this period are highly cost-effective,” the report said.
The report highlighted alarming child welfare indicators, noting that 110 out of every 1,000 Nigerian children die before the age of five, 40 per cent are stunted, and 52 per cent are not developmentally on track before entering school.
It attributed these outcomes to persistent gaps in maternal healthcare, nutrition, early learning, and access to water and sanitation, particularly within the first 2,000 days of a child’s life.
The bank added that these outcomes remain “weak and highly unequal,” with significant disparities across income levels, regions, and states.
The report further revealed that favourable external inflows boosted reserves, with net external reserves rising to $34.8 billion at the end of 2025, while gross reserves reached $45.5 billion, equivalent to 8.7 months of imports.
However, it noted that Nigeria’s fiscal deficit widened slightly in 2025, as increased non-oil revenues were offset by higher state-level capital spending and federal recurrent expenditure.
“Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) gross revenues rose from 7.9 per cent of GDP in 2024 to 8.5 per cent in 2025, driven by strong non-oil tax collections reflecting improved tax administration.
“This includes expanded e-filing and e-payments, higher compliance ahead of the implementation of the new tax bills, and the rollout of VAT e-invoicing, alongside a 0.2 per cent of GDP rise in subnational internally generated revenues,” the report stated.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
One of the players in the Nigerian aviation sector, Caverton Offshore Support Group Plc, has informed the investing public that it is unsure when it will file its audited financial statements for 2025.
Companies listed on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited are required to submit their audited financial results at most three months after the end of the fiscal year.
For Caverton, it was supposed to release the financial statements for 2025 on or before March 31, 2026; however, it has not done the needful.
In a statement to explain the delay in the filing of the results, the company said it has not completed the audit, and does not know when this process will be concluded by its external auditor.
“The delay in filing the 2025 AFS arises from the fact that the audit of the company’s financial statements is still ongoing. The company is working closely with its external auditors to conclude the audit process.
“However, as at the date of this notice, the audit has not been finalised due to the need to complete certain outstanding review procedures and obtain final audit clearances to ensure the accuracy, completeness, and integrity of the financial statements,” Caverton explained.
It further said, “While significant progress has been made, the audit process has not reached completion, and as such, the company is currently unable to confirm a definitive timeline for the finalisation and filing of the AFS.”
“The company considers it prudent not to provide an anticipated filing date at this time in order to avoid providing information that may subsequently require revision,” it further stated in the statement signed by its scribe, Ms Amaka Obiora.
Caverton assured “its shareholders and the market that it remains fully committed to maintaining the highest standards of financial reporting, transparency, and regulatory compliance,” promising to promptly file the results “upon completion of the audit process.”
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