NCC, FIRS set up committee to boost national revenue in telecoms sector

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in collaboration with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) have inaugurated a joint committee for the enhancement of the country’s revenues in the telecommunications sector.

The committee comprises senior and management staff of the two agencies towards the implementation of inter-agency goals.

Ikechukwu Adinde, director, public affairs, NCC, disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday.

Adeleke Adewolu, NCC’s executive commissioner, stakeholder management, inaugurated the 17-member committee on behalf of Umar Danbatta, executive vice-chairman and Muhammad Nami, executive chairman, FIRS, NCC’s board room in Abuja.

The committee comprises six NCC officials and eleven officials of FIRS.

Nami was represented by Dick Irri, coordinating director for the compliance support group.

While inaugurating, Adewolu said the terms of reference (ToR) of the Committee include: review the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the NCC and the FIRS on June 9, 2020; and carry out inter-agency interaction on the implementation of the NCC’s Revenue Assurance System (RAS), to ensure that it incorporates the needs of FIRS to the extent that RAS can remain the sole interface with telecom service providers’ networks vis-à-vis the tax authority’s information needs from the telecoms sector.

“Given the Committee’s composition and with the extensive experience and commitment of its members which had informed their selection by the agencies. The management of NCC and the FIRS expect no less than an excellent output from the Committee, to work together harmoniously and in the overall national interest,” Adewolu said.

On his part, Irri advised the committee to take the assignments very seriously.

“I would like to task you to take this assignment as a national matter as we expect the two agencies to work in harmony, collaborate effectively and have a warm handshake that will make this synergy between the two agencies a great example of collaboration between federal government agencies towards enhancing fiscal governance in Nigeria,” he said.

According to the statement, the decision to set up the committee was one of the major outcomes of the meeting between the FIRS and the NCC on March 8, 2022, organised by Isa Pantami, minister of communications and digital economy, to discuss the request by the FIRS for data and documents from the telecoms industry for enhancing national revenues from the sector.

“The inauguration is a significant achievement, as it deepens the strategic collaboration between the two government agencies in the pursuit of their statutory objectives. It also vindicates the emphasis placed on achieving mutually-sustainable relationships with relevant stakeholders as detailed in both the NCC’s Strategic Management Plan (SMP), 2020-2024 and the Strategic Vision (Implementation) Plan (SVP 2020-2025) as well as FIRS’ strategic framework,” the statement added.

“The activities of the NCC and the FIRS are acknowledged as pivotal to the achievement of sustainable revenue and growth projections of the federal government. In this regard, the telecoms sector has sustained a relatively high contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) over the years — ending the fourth quarter of 2021 at 12.6 per cent.

“It is expected that the joint Committee will enable both organisations to further optimise revenues for the federal government from the telecoms, digital economy and adjacent sectors of the economy.”