Why FIRS Boss, Adedeji Declares Buhari’s N2.59trillion Tax Credit Scheme as Illegal, Advises Scrap Off…see details
Presently, the Chairman of Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Zacch Adedeji, said the N2.59trillion Tax Credit Scheme introduced by former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration for road construction across the country was illegal and should be scrapped.
FIRS Boss, Zacch Adedeji, said the N2.59trillion Tax Credit Scheme introduced by former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration for road construction across the country was illegal and should be scrapped.
Also yesterday, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) gave insight into the $3.3billion loan facility it secured for the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to stabilize the Naira in the foreign exchange market
The N2.59trillion Tax Credit Scheme was introduced through Executive Order 7 of 2021 by the Buhari-led administration.
Representatives of both the FIRS and NNPCL spoke when they appeared before the Senate Committee on Finance, chaired by Senator Sani Musa (APC – Niger East).
The Senator Musa-led Committee had invited the the FIRS and NNPCL to shed light on implementation of the scheme in view of the poor state of Federal Roads across the country.
While the NNPCL’s Chief Financial Officer, Umar Ajiya. insisted that that the scheme is helping to fix dilapidated roads across the six geo-political zones in the country with N664billion spent so far, the FIRS boss, Adedeji, said the scheme was unlawful and should be discontinued.
Adedeji said: “The mandate of FIRS is to assess, collect tax and remit it into the federation account and not to appropriate it for any purpose through an executive order.
“It is not the duty of FIRS and NNPCL to be paying contractors. The Ministry of Works should in line with its core mandate be allowed to award road contracts and pay for them.
“The scheme to some people serves as faster way for road reconstruction or rehabilitation across the country, but we should stop increasing speed towards wrong direction.
“As a way of stopping the wrong approach, FIRS and CBN will hold a meeting with the Ministry of Works on Friday this week, to take stock of what has been done through the scheme and thereafter, toe the right path.
“We should in a nutshell, not continue in the wrong trajectory.”
In his remarks, the Chairman of the Committee, Senator Sani Musa, said relevant provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), are against the scheme because the monies NNPCL and FIRS are being made to spend on the roads through tax credit are supposed to be remitted into consolidated revenue fund of the Federal Government.
“We are waiting for the outcome of the proposed meeting of the three agencies involved in the scheme, before deciding on how to help the present government to correct mistakes of the past,” Musa said.
On the $3.3billion loan facility to the CBN, NNPCL informed the Committee that it was secured to support CBN to suppress FOREX volatility.
It said $2.2billion had already been secured for the apex bank while the balance of $1.05billion, would be credited to the apex bank before the end of the month.
(Nation)