The chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Zacch Adedeji, remains focused on the serious job of ensuring the new tax laws bring huge reliefs to ordinary Nigerians and end to multiple taxes for businesses in the new year.
Spokesperson of a group called Guardian of Truth, Mr Clement KOLAWOLE said this in a statement on Saturday.
A lawmaker in league with some civil society organisations had laughably called for the sack of the finance minister and the FIRS chairman over unpaid money owed sundry contractors, despite impressive tax revenue collection performance by the agency.
Kolawole, in the statement made available to newsmen, said the sack call came from misunderstanding of the mandate that set up FIRS.
According to him, FIRS is not involved in payment to contractors working for government as the agency only assesses, collects and accounts for tax revenue due to the federation.
“The fact that FIRS under Adedeji has consistently posted stellar revenue collection performance since assumption of office does not mean the money is warehoused in FIRS.
“The lawmaker of all people should know that about 70 per cent of what is shared monthly at the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) by federal, states and local government councils comes from FIRS.
“It is on record that distributable FAAC has been on upward swing since President Bola Ahmed Tinubu assumed office in May 2023. This has been widely acknowledged and the President has won praise even from opposition elements for restoring fiscal stability to the country, including the sub-nationals.
“The FIRS chairman is not distracted by such a call and remains determined to ensure Nigerians and businesses fully harness the gains of the new tax laws kicking in January through fair and efficient tax administration,” he said.
