Business
FIRS Loses N72bn To Tax Evasion
The Federal Inland Revenue Service lost a total of N72 billion in 2008 from un-remitted personal income tax deductions, Value Added Tax, and withholding tax (WHT).
To check the trend, the FIRS said it would soon make possession of tax clearance certificates a requirement to have access to certain government services.
According to the FIRS, the ministries and agencies involved in the non-remission of taxes include the Nigeria Universities Commission, NUC, and Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC. If such taxes had been remitted into the coffers of the Federal Inland Revenue service it would have helped to solve a lot of outstanding problems in the country in the face of the current global meltdown.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government has approved a new tax administration system known as “Unique Tax Payers Identification Number, UTPIN”.
The approval was given at the monthly National Economic Council, NEC, meeting held recently at the State House, Aso Villa, Abuja, and presided over by Vice President Goodluck Jonathan.
Governor of Zamfara State, Mahmud Shinkafi who briefed State House correspondents at the end of the meeting said UYPIN was part of the overall reform of the tax system to make it more efficient.
He said the new scheme would help in solving the problem of double taxation and would place the country’s tax administration among the developed and efficient ones.
“When this is done, every tax payer will have his or her tax identification number, such as obtained in other developed countries,” he said.
Shinkafi said the bio-metric cards containing the particulars of each tax payer would be issued centrally. He said the project would cost N7.4 billion, out of which the federal government would contribute 50 percent, while the state and local government would provide the balance.
In a related development, the council also approved a recall of the N100 billion released to two commercial banks, from the N200 billion approved for large scale commercial farming in the country.
But in another development, the federal government, states and local governments shared N326 billion in June, 2009, indicating a drop of about N4 billion from the N330 billion that was shared in May.
The amount include N27.8 billion supplement from the Excess Crude Account and N38.4 billion revenue from the value added tax, VAT.
This was contained in a communiqué issued at the end of the monthly meeting on the Federal Account Allocation Committee, FAAC, held in Abuja recently. The communiqué was signed by the Accountant General of the Federation, AGF, Ibrahim Dankwambo.
The committee stated that the distributable statutory revenue for the month was N259.1 billion, which showed an increase of N4 billion compared with that of the month of May.
Without the excess crude account supplement and the VAT, the Federal Government had N124.3 billion, the states got N63.1 billion, the local councils received N48.6 billion and the 13 percent derivation translating to N23. 1 billion.
“The increase is distributable income which was attributed to a rise in petroleum profit tax collection as a result of increase in the OPEC Reference Basket coupled with higher prices of crude oil,” the committee stated.
The United States Trade Representative (USTR) has criticised Nigeria’s import ban on 25 categories of goods, claiming that the restrictions limit market access for American exporters.
This is the effect of President Donald Trump’s tariffs introduction on goods entering the United States, with Nigeria facing a 14 per cent duty.
The USTR highlighted the impact of Nigeria’s import ban on various sectors, particularly agriculture, pharmaceuticals, beverages, and consumer goods.
The restrictions affect items such as beef, pork, poultry, fruit juices, medicaments, and alcoholic beverages, which the United States sees as significant barriers to trade.
The agency argues that these limitations reduce export opportunities for United States businesses and lead to lost revenue.
“Nigeria’s import ban on 25 different product categories impacts United States exporters, particularly in agriculture, pharmaceuticals, beverages, and consumer goods.
“Restrictions on items like beef, pork, poultry, fruit juices, medicaments, and spirits limit United States market access and reduce export opportunities.
“These policies create significant trade barriers that lead to lost revenue for United States businesses looking to expand in the Nigerian market”, the agency said .
In 2016, Nigeria implemented the ban on these 25 items as part of efforts to control imports and stimulate local production.
Some of the banned items include poultry, pork, refined vegetable oil, sugar, cocoa products, spaghetti, beer, and certain medicines.
On March 26, 2025, the Federal Government also announced plans to halt solar panel imports to encourage local manufacturing as part of its push for clean energy.
A leading agribusiness strategist and digital agriculture expert, Ayo Oluwa Okediji, has sought cooperative-driven investments in sustaining growth of poultry industry in Nigeria.
He said the poultry industry was at a defining moment and requires urgent structural reforms to secure its future and ensure long-term sustainability.
Speaking on the theme, “Strengthening Poultry Farming Through Cooperative Synergy and Strategic Investments”, at the recently concluded Oyo Mega Poultry Workshop 2025 in Ibadan, Okediji called on poultry farmers, cooperative leaders, financial institutions and policy makers to rethink the existing structure of the poultry sector.
He stressed the need to transition from fragmented, individually-driven operations to well-structured, cooperative-led enterprises capable of attracting sustainable financing and securing long-term viability.
He said, “Our poultry sector cannot thrive on individual effort alone. We need to organise ourselves into cooperative clusters, build strong governance systems and position ourselves to attract the level of investment needed to sustain this industry beyond this generation.”
Drawing on lessons from successful global cooperative models such as Rabobank in the Netherlands and Landus Cooperative in the United States, Okediji introduced the FarmClusters Poultry Model, a locally adapted solution developed by Agribusiness Dynamics Technology Limited (AgDyna), a subsidiary of AgroInfoTech Africa.
According to him, the model is currently being piloted in Oyo State in partnership with PANOY Agribusiness Limited and local poultry cooperatives.
The Rivers State Representative of the Nigeria Chambers of Commerce, Mines, Industries and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Mr. Erasmus Chukwundah, has urged palm oil farmers to consider hybrid seedlings for planting, if they must break even in palm oil business.
Chukwundah said this recently at the Free Oil Palm Business Climate Smart Best Management Practice/Assistance Training organized by Partnership Initiative In Niger Delta (PIND) for Palm Oil Farmers in Elele, Ikwerre Local Government Area.
The Rivers representative said until palm oil farmers begin to consider such hybrid oil palm seedlings, they may not meet up with the daily increasing demand of palm oil in the market.
According to him, the seedlings produce up to 30 bunches at once that ripen same time.
He said PIND decided to partner with Oil Palm Growers Association of Nigeria (OPGAN) to ensure that the message was received by the targeted audience.
According to him, palm oil remained a popular choice of industry operators as it could be converted to many other products such as vegetable cooking oil.
He also noted that products such as motor tyers, marine ropes and others are now gotten from the palm tree.
Chukwundah, who is the immediate past Director-General of Port Harcourt Chamber of Commerce, Mines, Industries, and Agriculture (PHCCIMA), further warned against use of unrecommended fertilisers in growing oil palms.
He noted that such practices could limit its export value or chances as the foreign marketers have a way of detecting such .
He reiterated the need for organic fertilizers, including poultry droppings, to enable them have a natural palm oil.
“People must reduce physical contact with palm oil production. That is why we are campaigning for hydrolic oil mills. The foreign markets are no longer interested in crude method of palm oil production”, he said.
Meanwhile, one of the farmers, Sonny Didia, who appreciated Chukwundah’s commitment towards the concern of farmers, appealed for an urgent need for loan opportunity with low interest rate in order to enable them beat the target.
King Onunwor