The Nigerian government has revealed that the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) will begin the collection of taxes usually collected by 63 agencies, including the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).

Taiwo Oyedele, head of the Presidential Committee on Tax Policy and Fiscal Reforms, disclosed this in an interview with Channels TV on Wednesday.

Oyedele said this meant the customs would now focus on trade facilitation and border protection, and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on regulating telecommunications, as they were not set up to collect revenue.

He said, "Ironically, our cost of collection is one of the highest, and the reason for that is that we've got all manners of agencies. The federal government alone, we have 63 MDAs that were given revenue targets last year.

"On one hand, these agencies are being distracted from doing their primary function, which is to facilitate the economy. Number two, they were not set up to collect revenue. So, they won't be able to collect revenue efficiently.

"So, move those revenue collection functions to the FIRS. It has two advantages: the cost of collection and efficiency will improve, these guys will focus on their work and the economy will benefit as a result."