The Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Muhammad Nami says the mandate of the service is to collect taxes due to the federation and the Federal Government.

Nami, in a statement issued in Abuja by his Special Assistant on Media and Communication, Johannes Wojuola, said that FIRS did not grant tax waivers to any taxpayer in the country.

He was reacting to some media reports that some companies including Dangote, Sinotruck Limited, Lafarge, Honeywell, were granted tax waiver on pioneer status between 2019 and 2021 in the sum of N16 trillion by the FIRS and other agencies.

According toNami, FIRS does not have the power or responsibility of facilitating or implementing tax waivers to investors in Nigeria.

“There are relevant agencies of government that are charged with such responsibility,” he said.

Nami, however, said that the Service was not unmindful of the objectives of granting tax waivers to investors.

“This includes helping to grow local companies, stimulate economic growth and earn investors’ confidence.

“I am confident that the companies which are now enjoying tax breaks will eventually exit shortly and begin to pay taxes to the Federal Government.

“This is as it is currently being done by the companies that have equally enjoyed such tax breaks in the past and are now paying taxes in hundreds of billions of naira.

“Such companies will continue to pay taxes to the government so long as they remain in business.”

Nami further said that the companies enjoying the pioneer status would be exempted from paying only the direct taxes from their profits.

“But will continue to act as agents of collecting and remitting Indirect Taxes (VAT, WHT) in the ordinary course of their operations,’’ he said.

He emphasized that FIRS remained focused on the task of achieving its mandate of assessing, collecting and accounting for taxes due to the federation and the Federal Government.

“This task is challenging, more so at this time of global economic disruption occasioned by the Russia-Ukraine war and the pandemic.

“However, the management is steadfast in achieving the target set for it by the Federal Government.

“For instance, in 2021, the Service surpassed its target by collecting an unprecedented amount of N6.4 trillion in taxes.

“So far this year, the Service is poised to perform even better than its record for 2021,” he said.

Nami urged stakeholders to join hands with the Service to improve the nation’s economy.

[8:42 AM, 9/20/2022] Martin Odiete: INEC did not deny anyone the opportunity to get Permanent Voter Card – Official

 INEC says it did not deny any eligible Nigerian the opportunity to acquire the Permanent Voter Card (PVC) as was being claimed in the media.

Its National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Mr Festus Okoye, refuted the claim in Abuja on Monday.

Okoye said that INEC’s attention was drawn to media reports that about seven million Nigerians who applied for the PVC online during the last Continuous Voter Registration were denied the opportunity.

“To set the records straight, INEC introduced the online pre-registration on June 28, 2021.

“By doing so, citizens were given the opportunity to start the registration online and then book appointments at their convenience to complete the physical biometric registration at designated centres.

“It was a novel idea leveraging on technology to ease the registration process,’’ he said.

Okoye explained that this was in addition to the walk-in option at physical registration centres, where registrants could begin and complete their registration without going through the online pre-registration procedure.

“For the online pre-registration, 10,487,972 began the process.

“By the deadline of the exercise, 3,444,378 registrants completed their pre-registration physically at the designated centres in line with laid-down procedure.

“Some 7,043,594 applicants did not complete the registration and INEC made the information public.

“This is what some people are now holding on to, to claim that they were denied the opportunity.

“In reality, they failed to either complete the online enrolment or failed to appear physically at the designated centres to complete the process,’’ he said.

Okoye added that out of the 7,043,594 who did not complete their registration, 4,161,775 attempted but either did not complete online pre-registration or abandoned it and went for the physical registration.

“The remaining 2,881,819 registrants completed the online pre-registration but did not show up to complete the physical biometric registration at designated centres before the expiration of the deadline.

“Therefore, it is clear that no Nigerian was denied the opportunity to complete the online pre-registration,’’ he stressed.

Okoye appealed to Nigerians to always adhere to timelines as against the endless agitation for eleventh hour extension of set deadlines.