The Chairman of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, Taiwo Oyedele, has confirmed receiving N5bn from the former Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Muhammad Nami.
Making clarification on the transfer of the N5bn by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to fund his committee’s activities via a statement posted on his X handle on Friday, Oyedele said the N5bn covers a national “Data for Tax” project, which the Joint Tax Board (JTB) has been championing for over 2 years.
Nami, while reacting to claims that he approved N11bn after he was removed from office, stated that he approved the payment of N5bn to the committee.
He added that the N5bn paid to the Joint Tax Board was released to fund the activities of the Presidential Committee on Tax and Fiscal Policy Reforms two months before he left office.
According to Oyedele, the project was presented to the National Economic Council in 2022 and was meant to be funded by the federal government and the 36 states.
He noted that the project, however, stalled due to a lack of funds, adding that given the importance of the project to the effective reform of the tax system, it was included in the committee’s budget.
He said, “All the expenses of the committee are properly documented and available for audit. We collect receipts for fuel, stationery, and virtually every Naira that we spend to the extent possible. Over N4 billion of the said funds transferred by the FIRS to the JTB for the Committee’s work is yet to be spent and very much intact in the JTB account.
“We will be responsible, prudent, and accountable with every Naira of public funds we have been entrusted with.
“In addition, the budget covers planned stakeholder engagements with various sectors and interest groups, as well as international engagements and understudy of some leading tax regimes around the world, and so on.
“The budget covers a period of one year, being the lifespan of the committee.
It should be noted that the committee was not set up simply to produce reports and recommendations; we are also charged with the implementation of recommended and approved proposals that need to be funded.
“The Committee’s mandate includes ensuring prudence and accountability in the management of our national resources. It will therefore be a contradiction for the same committee to be wasteful or reckless in its own affairs.
“Members of the Committee work on a volunteering basis and are only paid reasonable allowances to cover their out-of-pocket expenses, as we cannot afford to pay the commercial value for their time, skills, and experience. As the Chairman of the Committee, despite working full time on the assignment, I do not receive a salary,”
Oyedele said the committee’s budget, which has the approval of the National Assembly, includes the setting up of offices for the committee in Lagos and Abuja, the payment of salaries for the full-time staff engaged by the committee, travel, and other logistics for over 70 members representing more than 40 institutions and stakeholder groups mapped to 6 different subcommittees, more than 30 secretariat personnel and over 40 students across the country.
