The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) yesterday put its overall 2020 performance from January to October at N4.122 trillion. It said this is in spite of Covid-19 challenges, financial Act 2019 incentives and palliatives concessions. FIRS added that its non-oil revenue collection performance in the same period stood at N2.8 trillion and oil revenue collection performance stood at N1.3 trillion. Its Executive Chairman Mohammad Nami spoke in Ilorin, Kwara State capital at the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETfund)/FIRS 2020 joint interactive. Nami also said the service collected N251billion as at October this year for the TETfund. Represented by the agency’s director, state coordinator of Oyo, Ogun and Osun, Nureni Fasola, the FIRS chief said the agency raked in N214 billion for the Fund in 2019. Also speaking, the chairman board of trustees of the Fund, Kashim Imam said 226 tertiary institutions in the country would access N500 billion from TETfund in 2021.
He added TETfund that the target of N500 billion as education tax for the FIRS in 2021 “considering the magnitude of challenges facing tertiary education in Nigeria.” Imam, who said the Fund was committed to impact more, added that the BoT under his leadership was determined to prove that “public agencies must, should work and must work to get results. “The synergy between the FIRS and TETfund is vital to the transformation that is evident in our public tertiary institutions nationwide. This was achieved as a result of joint delivery of complementary services by providing amiable and lasting solutions to our beneficiaries. In addition, the successful strategic partnership over the years can be attributed to the strong, relentless commitment and cooperation by the leadership of both organizations and our zeal to improve Nigerian education nationwide.” The chairman of the BoT also said the team of the TETfund and FIRS would visit project sites in tertiary institutions in the state to see if the funds were judiciously utilized.