Nigeria's revenue generating agency, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has budgeted N160 million (over $440,000) for 850 drivers in the organisation.
According to reports, this budget caused eyebrow among lawmakers who queried some outrageous figures in the agency's 2019 budget.
Defending the budget before Nigerian parliament on Monday, Babatunde Fowler, head of the tax agency, explained that the N160 million was earmarked to sew the uniforms of the 850 drivers “in order to make them fit properly into the structure.”
Other outrageous budgets include N250 million for security vote and N825 million vote for refreshment. The lawmakers noted that the grey areas will be addressed before passing of the budget into law.
Despite hitting record-high revenue last year with N5.32 trillion, the FIRS has failed to meet revenue targets since President Buhari came into office in 2015, documents seen by Business Insider SSA by Pulse has shown.
Since 2000, data available on the FIRS website shows that President Muhammadu Buhari-led federal government has witnessed tax revenue shortfalls since inception in 2015.
In 2015, the agency set N4.5 trillion and made about N3.7 trillion and has been experiencing a shortfall between N1 trillion to N2 trillion every year.
Prior to 2015, the tax agency surpassed its revenue targets except in 2006 where it made a projection of N3.05 trillion and made N1.86 trillion for the year.
The lawmakers also frowned at its inability of the agency to meet revenue target. Specification, Hon. Nicholas Ossai representing Ndokwa/Ukwuani maintained that FIRS 2018 budgetary performance was poor.
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