Business Post Contributor
By Sodeinde Temidayo David
The total number of taxpayers in Nigeria has risen to 41 million, with N4.2 trillion remitted to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) as of September 30, 2021.
This information was revealed on Friday by the Executive Chairman of FIRS, Mr Muhammad Mamman Nami, during the public presentation of the breakdown of the N16.39 trillion 2022 budget presented to the National Assembly on Thursday by President Muhammadu Buhari.
At the event attended by Business Post, the taxman said the federal government was making efforts to expand the tax net so as to boost the nation’s dwindling revenue, which has remained a source of worry for the government.
He said the federal government intends to also increase the number of taxpayers in Nigeria to reduce the reliance on the oil sector in generating revenue.
“Our total tax base today is in the region of about 41 million people and total personal income tax paid last year was less than N1 trillion [paid] by 40 million people,” the FIRS chief said.
“From a tax perspective, and from the figures we shared with the public last year, if we were to be specific about what we are currently doing, we will discover that we are actually diversifying.
“The collection we have up to the September 30, which we are even yet to fully reconcile with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigeria Customs [Service] is about N4.2 trillion. So, I want to believe the diversification is on course,” Mr Nami said.
The FIRS chairman also noted that and from the amount generated from taxes, oil-related taxes accounted for about 22 per cent, which is N950 billion, while the non-oil taxes on the other hand was responsible for the generation of N3.3 trillion within the period of the record.
The tax body chairman further lamented that the taxes being paid in the country are not adequate as people are not willing to pay even as tax agents have been appointed.
According to him, more result is expected as the country has a large population of 200 million, which he said was more than the population of South Africa, which he said was at 60 million and a tax base of 4 million with N13 trillion generated from PIT.
The FIRS boss then urged eligible Nigerians to pay their taxes as it would give the government the opportunity to reduce the need for the country to borrow to provide critical infrastructure.
Recall that the immediate past FIRS scribe, Mr Tunde Fowler, had said the nation’s tax base rose from 10 million in 2015 to 14 million in 2017 and to 19 million in 2018 and was expected to hit 45 million in 2019. However, he could not achieve this target before he was replaced by the government.
