When the ongoing integration of different biometric databases in Nigeria is completed, it is anticipated that the figure on the taxpayer database will grow to 45 million individuals, inclusive of corporate payers. In essence, the taxpayer database has expanded from 10 million that was inherited by President Buhari in 2015 to 35 million as at the end of 2018. Disclosing this at the quarterly world press conference held in Abuja, Mrs. Zainab S. Ahmed, Honorable Minister of Finance, said that through reforms at the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) and the Joint Tax Board (JTB), government have been able to harmonize the Tax Identity Number (TIN) database to cover Federal, States and LGs to establish a unified identity number system for uniquely identifying tax payers.
Considering that revenue growth is a strategic priority for the Ministry of Finance, Ahmed further said that the Strategic Revenue Growth Initiative (SRGI), which was launched in Abuja Wednesday, January 23, 2019, is a key aspect of government strategy to improve Non-oil revenue through fiscal buffers, and ultimately improve the Revenue to Debt Service Ratio and to improve the ratio of Non-oil revenue to Non-oil GDP. “A set of initiatives have been itemized in the SRGI to increase the country’s revenues across all revenue types. This is to ensure that the whole of government is focused on revenue generation,” she stated. Among the initiatives in the SRGI is the National Single Window (NSW) which is expected to significantly improve the revenue performance of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) when implemented. Speaking further in an interactive session, the Honorable Minister said: “Four to five years after implementation we expect NCS revenue to double. This will come from the blocking of the leakages, improvement in the efficiencies in our ports and borders, the rehabilitation of scanners as well as the infusion of new scanners in the ports trading ecosystem, and it would also be due to increased rate of physical examination, reducing the physical examination to fasten the business of the ports.” The single window, according to her, would also help to bring to the barest minimum the issues of trade mis-invoicing, which is not only a drain on customs revenue but also a drain on tax revenues.
In the light of the above, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved Project Lighthouse, an initiative of the Ministry of Finance that uses Big Data Analytics and other advanced data mining technologies to better profile individual and corporate taxpayers. In her explanation, it was clear the data would be mined from various sources including lead registries, banks, the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), among others. Ahmed also disclosed that all of these would be aimed at better identifying defaulting tax payers to optimize tax collections. Stating further she said: “Going forward, we plan to launch Project Lighthouse that seeks to use of big data analytics to provide intelligence to the tax authority on eligible tax payers and their real taxable incomes and assets. As we plan to roll out the IPPIS to all other MDAs in 2019 and optimize Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS), we are set for an improved PFM system that ensures an efficient and cost effective public service delivery for our citizens.” In addition to the mapped out initiatives, the Value Added tax (VAT) expansion programme is also ongoing and “this programme is designed to ensure that we improve collection efficiency whilst ensuring there is automation of VAT collection at source in some key sectors. FIRS has already begun VAT automation programme for Banks and other large industries. The target at improving the VAT collection, which was N148.92 billion as against the budgeted figure of N207.51 billion in 2018, also considers seriously the digitalization and transformation initiatives which are an integral part of the whole revenue collection efforts.” The entire effort is based on the fact that independent revenues are a critical part of the revenue mix of Nigeria. Though there is not yet optimal performance of independent revenue, but the Honorable believes there has been some improvements. The independent revenue that was generated in 2018 was N454.34 billion, this is against a budgeted figure of N847.95 billion, representing 54% performance. In 2017, actual independent revenue performance was 25% of the target.
Source: independent
