DANGERS OF NOT BUILDING STRONG INSTITUTIONS IN NIGERIA: FEDERAL INLAND REVENUE( F.I.R S) AS A CASE STUDY BY DR.GBENGA ADEOYE.
There is nothing wrong in having few strong men who can roar and everybody will behave.Obasanjo Provided that figure as President from 1999 to 2007.
It is good to have men whose body language can change the way people behave....But that will end with the tenure of such strong individuals...
1. Moreover, the cost of not building strong institutions is that you end up wasting National Resources on new things not needed.
2. You don't have to reinvent the wheel.
3. Federal Inland Revenue Came up with the Implementation of TIN between 2006 & 2007 and that was one of the greatest idea birthed in our tax system in Nigeria.
4.TIN is a unique I.D that is under FIRS control in a manner that no two entities can have the same.
5.Another move was the one introduced by Kemi Adeosun as Minister of Finance few years ago to bring everybody into the Tax Net.It was Code-Named VAIDS.
6. Right now FIRS is derailing by attempting to change the main I.D of Tax Payers to E mail.That is an error in my opinion.Crisis will follow it.Keep to TIN.
7. E Mail has a lot of issues. You can change it from time to time.It can be hacked.There are so many details attached to e mail that are personal to Tax Payers.How would you resolve the problem of update of change in e mails if that is the main I.D.?Main I.D Should be fixed in nature.
8. Some tax Payers do not even check or use their e mails for months as a result of their nature of work.Hence, they leave those stuffs to their Tax Consultants to handle.Once you use e mail as main I.D..It will mean that a Tax Consultants cannot use their Special Tax E mail for more than one clients.
9. Using E Mail as Unique I.D is a sign of weak Institutions in FIRS where you are attempting to reinvent the Wheel.
10.Revert to the Use of Tax Identification Number.( TIN) where you have full control.
11. It is quite surprising that great achievements made in the last five years with Electronic Tax Clearance issuance is NOW about to be thrown into the dustbin simply because we don't always want to continue with a good system no matter how good , as long as it was done by another team before you.
You see Governors behaving like that too in Nigeria.Everyone want to reinvent the wheel and we don't have that luxury of time to develop this country to a modern one we desire it to be.Am sure many will agree with me we don't have time to waste.Nations are moving with Jet Speed. We cannot afford to keep crawling.
12.The easiest and the best way to reach Tax Payers is through their Consultants who has Professional Oaths to counsel them and always attend to their issues.Why would you suddenly wake up and attempt to change that.?
13.How much have we Invested as a Country on the Amanda Software? Why would you jettison such huge Investment and start reinventing the Wheel.?
14. We must stop all these trial and error approach. Once we get anything right..Let us continue to develop such.
15.Part of the error in our current Tax System is one that Exclude entities with less than N25m a year from Paying VAT and Company Income Tax...You have large numbers of tax payers in that categories.We must change that as fast as possible.
We ought to have more people in tax net so as to widen it and not to reduce it.
We must not kill the big companies.All small and medium size companies must be brought to the net to contribute to National Development.
16.In conclusion; as simple as this article is; Federal Inland Revenue Service must wake up quickly and revive the existing system in Amanda Software and stop reinventing the Wheel...Doing so will amount to weakening that Institution saddled with revenue Generation in our Country. Let us learn from Developed Nations as fast as possible.
17.This Article is also very essential because the current Chairman of FIRS was a Tax Consultant before and from the reform he has introduced by empowering Tax Controllers to handle Tax Clearance at their base; he has shown to be a good listener and one who will reason with Ideas. I have followed him for some times now and I believe he will review this matter objectively.We are all stake holders in the country and we want his team to succeed.
2020 is also a year that meeting Huge Revenue Target is more or less an Impossibility.
We have lost about 4 months to COVID 19. Hence; we must not bring a system that will derail the system neither should we expect huge Target Achievement. 2021 will be a better year by God's grace for FIRS & Our Economy.Amen
Dr. Gbenga Adeoye holds a PhD in Management Accounting .He also holds a Bachelor's Degree in Law ( LLB)
He is a Fellow of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria.
A Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria.
A Fellow of The Chartered Institute of Management Consultants.
An Arbitrator of UK and Nigeria with a Diploma in Criminology & Security Studies & Holds a Distinction in Time Management Certification.
He is Passionate about World Peace, Good Governance, Tax Justice and Economic Development of Africa in General & Nigeria in Particular.
He can be reached on gbengaglobal@gmail.com
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