PRESS RELEASE

September 27, 2022

FG to deploy PPP solution to boost excise, tax revenue – Receives OBC from ICRC

In its bid to mitigate the dwindling revenue and foster more non-oil revenue streams, the Federal Government is on the verge of deploying an Integrated Secure Track and Trace Solution to boost revenue earnings through excise and tax collection.

This was made known when the Director General of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) Michael Ohiani presented the Outline Business Case (OBC) compliance certificate to the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, affirming that the project was viable.

The PPP solution which will adopt the Build, Operate and Transfer option, will allow the Federal Government, through the Ministry of Finance, to establish an effective and non-intrusive control on a broad range of goods and services subject to excise duty, safety and standards.

While receiving the OBC certificate, the Minister said the proposed solution was very important at this time as the government was currently constrained in terms of revenue and required an urgent boost.

“The purpose of this project is to enable the ministry have visibility over a number of key products that are made in Nigeria, in terms of the quantity and companies that produce them.

“It is also to differentiate between the same products produced in Nigeria and the ones that are imported, the bottom line is for us to be able to maximize our revenue potentials.

“Having had several meetings with the proposing company, we thought that the best way to do this is through a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model and I am glad that the Outline Business Case (OBC) Compliance Certificate has been issued,” she said.

She added that as the fiscal authority of the government, the Ministry of Finance had the responsibility to ensure that duties and taxes are paid and that the relevant agencies were assisted to make their work more seamless, hence the need to deploy the solution.

She assured however that the solution was not going to put more burden on companies as the duties to be collected were not going to disrupt manufacturing in any way.

“I am assured that the manufacturing companies’ businesses will not be disrupted, they are not going to incur any additional cost, the excise duty that will be charged will be a pass through cost. We are convinced that this is the right thing to do,” she said.

She expressed confidence in the solution citing that the same infrastructure had been deployed by the same company in South Africa and Morocco to boost their revenue accruals.

Speaking while presenting the OBC, DG ICRC, Michael Ohiani said that the solution will bring about many benefits to Nigeria including: stem illicit trade and revenue leakages; improve revenue generation for the Government; ensure circulation of high-quality goods and services; achieve economies of scale and synergies amongst Ministry’s agencies; enhance technology and knowledge transfer and generate employment opportunities.

“The proposed solution when implemented will allow the Federal Government of Nigeria to establish effective and non-intrusive controls on a broad range of markets, such as goods and services subject to excise duty, and goods subject to conformity with health, safety and quality standards.

“Additionally, the solution aims to reduce the levels of counterfeiting, sub-standard quality, tax evasion and under-declaration in these markets,” Ohiani said.

Ohiani pointed out that the ICRC and the Ministry will now proceed to the procurement stage after which a Full Business Case (FBC) Compliance Certificate will be issued for onward submission to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for project approval. END

Signed:

Manji Yarling

Ag. Head, Media and Publicity

For enquiries send a mail to: info@icrc.gov.ng