The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has been given a directive by the House of Representatives to collect all taxes, amounting to nearly N5.19 trillion, that individuals, oil companies, departments, and agencies of the federal government owe.
The motion was moved on Thursday by the member representing Oredo Federal Constituency of Edo State, Esosa Iyawe.
The Labour Party chieftain led the debate on the motion titled "Alleged non-remittance and under-remittance of tax by Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government, oil companies and other organisations", recalling that in 2021, The FIRS revealed that some companies owed N17.69 billion in taxes; however, no steps were taken to locate or recover the funds as the companies' addresses were untraceable.
He continued, saying that audit reports from 2015 to 2019 showed that over 5,000 Federal Government firms and MDAs owed N5.2 trillion in withholding taxes, and that government agencies owed hundreds of billions in FIRS taxes, which included underpayments and under-recoveries.
Esosa also maintained that the Federal Government's policies for national development are hampered by the under- and non-remittance of taxes, and that these issues could have disastrous consequences for the country's already collapsing economy if they were not immediately resolved.
He went on to say that although State and Local Government Authorities, multinational corporations, and other corporate organisations receive the free pass, small-scale enterprises in Nigeria are frustrated by the FIRS's various taxations.
After the motion was adopted, the House urged FIRS to start a tax recovery campaign and ordered the Committees on Public Accounts and Finance to look into government MDAs, oil companies, and other organisations' non-compliance with tax remittance laws. This will help to ensure that all unpaid taxes owed to the federal government are collected, and they will provide a report in four weeks for potential legislative action.
