The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has issued a tax credit certificate to Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (NLNG), for the construction of the Bonny-Bodo road and bridge in Rivers State.
While issuing the tax credit certificate last Thursday at the FIRS’ headquarters in Abuja to the company’s Deputy Managing Director, Mr. Olalekan Ogunleye, who represented the CEO, Mr. Philip Mshelbila, the Executive Chairman of the revenue service, Muhammad Nami, commended the NLNG for its sustained investments in Nigeria.
He expressed the revenue agency’s confidence in the company and its increased investments in the country and the optimism about the timely completion of the Train Seven Project, which has a great potential for the nation’s tax revenue streams.
Nami also spoke on how the Service was strengthening its relations with stakeholders and building customer-centric tax operations for improved revenue generation at the federal level.
He expatiated: “In order to efficiently deliver on our mandate, the Board and Management of the Service is focused on the following strategic planks and action areas: we are energising our consultations and regular engagements with stakeholders; we are building a customer centric and data centric organisation while also restructuring the administrative framework and processes of the Service; we are driving towards full automation of core tax operations.
“You may recall that the FIRS started with the development and deployment of an in-house digital solution – The Taxpromax Solution. This solution allows taxpayers to sit in the comfort of their offices or homes to file returns, pay taxes and conduct all forms of tax processes with us.
“At the heart of our customer-centric reforms is the setting up of a multilingual Call Centre for enquiries and reports from taxpayers.
“Consequent upon these strategic moves, the Service recorded an unprecedented collection of over N6 trillion in 2021 and has set its sight on higher performance this year. There is no doubt that the Service can achieve its targets with taxpayers like the NLNG.
“I wish to assure you that the Service is ever ready to attend to any issue that will enable you and taxpayers like you to comply with statutory tax obligations”, Nami added.
In his remarks at the even the NLNG CEO’s representative pointed out the company remained a major contributor to the country’s economic development and was working towards building a better Nigeria.
He said: “I also want to put on record our appreciation for the expedited issuance of the tax credit certificate. As you know, this tax credit is in relation to the Bonny-Bodo road which is itself a landmark project and a pilot scheme in this initiative.
“This would be the first time the Island of Bonny will be linked by road to the rest of the country. And this is very significant to the development and advancement of the country because it will open new opportunities for economic activity”, Ogunleye added.
The Road Infrastructure Development and Refurbishment Investment Tax Credit Scheme, also referred to as the Road Infrastructure Tax Credit Scheme, is a public-private partnership scheme signed by President Muhammadu Buhari under Executive Order 007, in January 2019, that enables the Federal Government of Nigeria to leverage private sector capital and efficiency for construction, refurbishment and maintenance of critical road infrastructure in the country.
Under the Scheme, participants are entitled to tax credits against their future Companies Income Tax to the tune of the project cost incurred in the construction or refurbishment of eligible roads.
NNPC, MTN, Transcorp Group, Access Bank, GZI industries, among others are some of the entities currently participating in the Road Infrastructure Tax Credit Scheme of Executive Order 007.
