The Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission has commended the Nigeria Investment Promotion Council (NIPC) for its reform programmes aimed at transforming the Council into a world-class investment promotion agency, enforcing the rule of law and minimizing leakages in the activities of the NIPC.

The chairman of the commission, Elias Mbam, made the call yesterday   at the presentation of status report on the administration of fiscal incentives by the members of the commission’s non-oil monitoring committee in his office in Abuja.

He said: “Nigeria at the moment cannot sit back and watch a few unscrupulous elements in our midst fiddle with our common patrimony by taking undue advantage of some fiscal policies, including the Pioneer Status Incentive, waivers and concessions and tax holidays designed by government to encourage and promote economic activities in priority areas and growth drivers of the economy”.

Mbam added that the issue of import duty waivers, concessions and exemptions had direct bearing on the quantum of revenue accruals to the federation account which gets depleted and consequently affects the share of every tier of government.

He said RMAFC was quite pleased with the NIPC executive secretary, Mrs Saratu Umar, for taking bold and impactful steps that had sanitized the granting of the Pioneer Status Incentives which had hitherto witnessed challenges in its administration and had led to huge revenue loss by the federation. He stressed that all these reforms would translate to more revenue to the federation account.

In the same vein, Mbam also advocated for a multi-stakeholder approach involving revenue generating agencies and regulatory bodies to stop revenue leakages so as to boost the dwindling revenue base of the federation which has nosedived as a result of the volatility in international oil prices.

He expressed optimism that the pioneer status and other fiscal policy incentives, if administered well with due diligence, would continue to be relevant, critical and unassailable and properly position the country to effectively take advantage of the current “scramble for Africa”, as investors continue to jostle for attractive Foreign Direct Investment destinations within the continent, especially Nigeria which remains an investors’ haven with numerous opportunities in oil and gas, manufacturing, agriculture, telecommunications, chemical, transportation and power sectors waiting to be tapped.

In order to ensure synergy in revenue generation, remittance and monitoring, the chairman reiterated the Commission’s commitment to continue to engage critical stakeholders like the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, the Customs Service, Federal Inland Revenue Service, NNPC and its subsidiaries and the Central Bank of Nigeria to strategize on how to reduce revenue loss through indiscriminate granting of waivers and tax holidays.

Presenting the status report earlier, RMAFC non-oil committee chairman, Reverend Ajibola Fagboyegun, also commended various revenue generating agencies and other stakeholders for their efforts at reducing revenue leakages and boosting remittances to the federation account.