Babatunde Fowler, chairman of Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has responded to a letter by the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, explaining that revenue generation under him between 2016 to 2018 was higher than 2012 to 2014.
Fowler’s response coincides with a press statement from the Presidency that he is not under any investigation.
In his letter to Mr. Kyari, he chronicled how FIRS has increased non-oil generation and how revenue was impacted by plummeting oil prices.
READ FOWLER’S RESPONSE AND LETTERS BELOW
RE: BUDGETED FIRS COLLECTION AND ACTUAL COLLECTION
I refer to your letter dated 8th August 2019 on the above subject matter and hereby submit a comprehensive variance analysis between budgeted and actual collections for each main tax item for the period 2012-2018 as requested.
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Your letter stated that actual collections for a three-year period were significantly worse than what was collected between 2012 and 2014. Total actual collection for the said period was N12,656.30 trillion, while total actual collection between 2016 and 2018 was N12, 656.30 trillion. The highlight of these collection figures was that during the period 2012 to 2014, out of the N14,527.85 trillion, oil revenue accounted for 8, 321.64 trillion or 57.28% while non-oil accounted for N6,206.22 trillion or 42.72% and during the later period of 2016 to 2018 out of the N12,656.30 trillion, oil revenue accounted for N5,145.87 trillion or 40.65% and non-oil revenue accounted for N7,510.42 trillion or 59.35%. FIRS management has control of non-oil revenue collection figures while oil revenue collection figures are subject to more external forces as highlighted below.
From the above, the non-oil revenue collection grew by N1,304.20 trillion or 21% within the period 2016 to 2018.
Kindly note that the total budget collection figure during 2012 to 2014 stood at N12,190.52 trillion compared to N16,771.78 trillion for the period 2016 to 2018, which represents an increase of 37.58%.
