FIRS To Recruit 7,500 Graduates And 5,000 Non-Graduates

The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun has announced plans by Nigerian government to recruit 7,500 graduates as Community Tax Liaison Officers to raise tax awareness among citizens thereby increasing the number of tax payers.

Adeosun, along with the Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr BabaTunde Fowler made this known at a joint media briefing on Thursday in Abuja.

This move according to Adeosun has become necessary owning to the very low number of persons captured in Nigeria’s Tax Database.

FIRS on August 29th commences recuirtment of Tax Liaison Officers .
She said that through this initiative, the government expected to increase the number of taxpayers by 35 percent from 14 million to about 17 million in two years.

“We will be recruiting them through N-Power and they can apply through the website of the Federal Ministry of Finance or through the N-Power website.

“It’s a two-year fixed contract and they will be deployed to states, attached to state Internal Revenue Service or FIRS.

“Their job is to improve the level of education on the Nigeria’s tax system.

“Our tax system is progressive, meaning those who earn less should pay less and those who earn more should pay more.

“A lot of people don’t know that. So it’s a chance to get people on ground to answer all these pertinent questions,” she said.

Adeosun said that graduates of accounting, economics, mathematics and other relevant courses would be given priority under the programme.

She, however, encouraged intelligent graduates interested in a career in tax administration to apply as the government planned to sponsor the recruits to become tax professionals.

“This exercise is extremely important for the fiscal sustainability of states because as you know, most of the revenue for states apart from FAAC is supposed to come from tax.

“So if we improved the number of taxpayers, we will be improving the fiscal health of our state governments as well as the Federal Government.

“It’s an important initiative for the nation as we undertake reforms to reduce our over-dependence on oil.

“We have to make sure that everyone who is economically active pays tax, no matter how little, they have to contribute to the pool,” she said.