‘It’s A Wrong Trajectory’ – FIRS Boss Tells Tinubu To Cancel Buhari’s N2.59 Trillion Tax Credit Scheme

The Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Zaccheus Adedeji, has called on President Bola Tinubu to discontinue the N2.59 trillion Tax Credit Scheme introduced by the previous administration of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2021.

The FIRS boss submitted that the scheme is a step in the wrong direction.

Adedeji made the submission on Wednesday when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Finance and spoke about the scheme meant for road construction across the country.

Naija News recalls the Tax Credit Scheme was introduced through Executive Order 7 of 2021 under the leadership of former President Buhari.

However, Adedeji, when he spoke on the scheme before the Senate Committee headed by Senator Sani Musa, described it as illegal and a step in the wrong direction.

The Senate Committee had summoned the FIRS and the  Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) management to provide further clarification on the implementation of the scheme, particularly with regards to the deplorable condition of the Federal Roads across the nation.

The FIRS boss, who appeared in the company of the Chief Financial Officer of NNPCL, Umoru Ajiya, expressed a strong disapproval of the scheme and called on the federal government to discontinue it.

He argued that it shouldn’t be the responsibility of the FIRS or NNPCL to pay contractors.

Adedeji added that the FIRS and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have scheduled a meeting with the Ministry of Works to take stock of what has been done so far and do things correctly.

He said, “The Mandate of FIRS lumped with execution of Tax Credit Schene for road construction , is to access , collect tax and remit it into the federation account and not to appropriate it for any purose through executive order.

“It is not the duty of FIRS and NNPCL to be paying contractors.

“The Ministry of Works should be in line with its core mandate , be allowed to award road contracts and pay for them.

“The scheme to many people, serves as a 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 the Central Bank of Nigeria are holding meeting with the Ministry of Works Friday this week.

“At the meeting, we are going to take stock of what had been done through the scheme and thereafter we will toe the right path.

“We should in a nutshell, not continue in the wrong trajectory.”