Economy
MTN, IHS, Huawei Adopt Nigeria’s New e-Fiscal Platform for Tax Payments
By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria has commenced the rollout of a national Electronic Fiscal System (EFS) to modernise Nigeria’s tax collection and administration as well as enhance collection transparency.
Rolled out by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), the EFS incorporates an electronic invoicing solution known as the Merchant-Buyer Model.
The platform, according to the tax body, went live on August 1, 2025, after a successful pilot phase that began in November 2024.
In a statement on Sunday, the Special Adviser on Media to the FIRS Chairman, Mr Dare Adekanmbi, said that in less than two weeks since the launch, at least 1,000 companies, representing 20 per cent of more than 5,000 eligible firms, have adopted the system and begun integrating with the FIRS MBS platform.
The remaining large taxpayers must complete their onboarding and integration before the new deadline of November 1, 2025. The initial August 1 deadline was extended by three months to accommodate companies that made genuine efforts to meet the original date but faced operational constraints.
The platform is designed to make tax compliance easier, faster, and more transparent for taxpayers, providing the FIRS with real-time visibility into commercial transactions while ensuring the authenticity, accuracy, and completeness of invoices.
The e-invoicing solution is being rolled out in phases, with medium-sized and emerging businesses to be onboarded after the large taxpayer category. It aligns with global best practices and supports the Federal Government’s broader objectives of enhancing revenue assurance, reducing tax evasion, and harmonising revenue reporting under the Nigeria Revenue Services Reform Act.
The first phase targeted large companies with an annual turnover of N5 billion and above.
Companies like MTN Nigeria, Huawei, and IHS have started to use the platform, FIRS disclosed.
“MTN Nigeria became the first taxpayer to transmit live electronic invoices to the FIRS, officially ushering in the e-invoicing regime. Huawei Nigeria and IHS Nigeria have also concluded test transmissions and are set to go live in the coming days,” the revenue agency said.
In collaboration with the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), FIRS has incorporated service providers into the ecosystem to act as both system integrators and access point providers. These providers will support onboarding, system integration, and invoice transmission processes for taxpayers.
FIRS also commended large taxpayers, tax consultants, and service providers for their cooperation and commitment to the success of the project, and urged all remaining eligible companies to take advantage of the extended deadline to comply.
The FIRS said its e-Invoicing Implementation Team will continue to hold stakeholder engagements, including webinars, workshops, and town hall meetings, to ensure a smooth transition ahead of the November deadline.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) is seeking a reduction in import duty exemptions, which rose to N34 trillion, limiting its ability to increase its revenue generation threshold.
The Comptroller-General of the Customs Service, Mr Adewale Adeniyi, disclosed that the value of import duty exemption certificate approvals increased to that level in 2025, describing the policy as one of the major factors restricting its revenue generation.
At an investigative session of the Senate Committee on Finance with revenue-generating agencies in Abuja on Monday, Mr Adeniyi explained that government fiscal policies have continued to impact the revenue-generating capacity of the Customs Service, both positively and negatively.
“The NCS would have generated significantly higher revenue over the years if not for government-approved import duty waivers and other external factors affecting collections,” he said.
He added that the Import Duty Exemption Certificate scheme, introduced in March 2020, accounted for about N34 trillion in approvals in 2025, with nearly 60 per cent covering duty-free importation of military hardware due to Nigeria’s prevailing security challenges.
Other government-backed duty waivers, he noted, covered the importation of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), electric and hybrid vehicles, healthcare equipment and medical supplies, industrial machinery and manufacturing inputs, as well as food import intervention programmes.
While acknowledging the impact of the waivers on Customs revenue, Mr Adeniyi argued that fiscal policy should not be assessed solely on the basis of revenue generation but also on its broader economic and social objectives.
He, however, urged the federal government to establish stronger monitoring mechanisms to ensure beneficiaries of duty waivers deliver the intended economic outcomes, including lower consumer prices, increased local production and improved healthcare access.
The committee also expressed displeasure over the absence of several heads of government agencies invited to the hearing, including the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Industrial Training Fund (ITF), and the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Jabi.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Mr Sani Musa, warned that the affected chief executives must appear at the committee’s next sitting or face severe sanctions under the Senate’s rules.
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By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange rose by 0.40 per cent on Monday, July 13, buoyed by buying interest in 11 Plc, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc and UBN Property Plc, which offset the profit-taking in Food Concepts Plc, the parent company of Chicken Republic.
11 Plc gained N20.69 to end at N227.64 per share compared with last Friday’s price of N206.95 per share, CSCS Plc grew by N1.83 to N91.48 per unit from N89.65 per unit, and UBN Property Plc added 1 Kobo to sell at N1.81 per share versus N1.80 per share.
On the flip side, Food Concepts Plc depreciated by 24 Kobo to close at N2.45 per unit, in contrast to the preceding session’s N2.69 per unit.
As a result, the market capitalisation increased by N9.2 billion to N2.587 trillion from N2.578 trillion, and the NASD Security Index (NSI) improved by 15.33 points to 4,311.67 points from 4,296.34 points.
Yesterday, the volume of securities traded by investors surged by 615.9 per cent to 9.1 million units from the previous 1.3 million units, and the value of securities rose by 997.1 per cent to N320.4 million from the preceding session’s N29.2 million, while the number of deals decreased by 12.5 per cent to 28 deals from last Friday’s 32 deals.
At the close of trades, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units worth N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 73.9 million units exchanged for N5.2 billion.
GNI Plc also closed the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units sold for N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units traded for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.
