The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed has told the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) that it has no business with collecting revenue.
The Minister, who made the clarification at the Public Hearing on the Finance Bill 2021 before the Senate Committees on Finance, Custom, Excise & Tariff, and Trade and Investment, Tuesday in Abuja, insisted that there is no constitutional role provided to the RMAFC to collect revenues.
According to Mrs Ahmed, the Commission’s role is “limited to the monitoring of the accruals to and disbursement of revenue from the Federation Account.”
Several years back, the RMAFC and the FIRS has squared up to each other over who was empowered to collect stamp duty tax.
The Minister explained that the constitutional role of the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), is limited to the monitoring of accruals and disbursements of revenue from the Federation Account,
“The functions of the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission is provided under Paragraph 32 (a-e) of Part 1 to the Third Schedule of the 1999 Constitution [of the Federal Republic of Nigeria].
“The commission is also empowered to advise the Federal and State Governments on fiscal efficiency.
Supporting the position of the Minister, the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Muhammad Nami stressed that only the FIRS has the sole mandate to collect and administer tax in Nigeria.
“We are not aware of any provision that mandates the RMAFC to make daily, monthly or annual returns to the Federation Account.
“The RMAFC Act Cap 17 LFN 2004 empowers them to demand and obtain regular and relevant information from NNPC, Nigeria Customs, FIRS, CBN and Federal Ministry of Finance.
