US new oil discovery threatens Nigeria’s economy –FIRS boss

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 by Christiana T. Alabi, Kaduna

 Speaking at a workshop on administration of capital gains tax in Kaduna, Mashi noted that even if the emerging economies of China and India are to compensate for the crude oil patronage, many countries in Africa which previously relied on Nigeria’s crude oil have recently discovered oil in commercial quantities and will increase crude oil supply to the international market.The discovery and production of Shale gas by the United States of America poses a threat to the Nigerian economy as export from Nigeria will decline, acting chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Kabir M. Mashi, has said.

 In the first three months of 2013, U.S. refiners cut their crude imports to just 681 million barrels, down from 785-800 million barrels in the same period in 2012 and 2011, recent report said.

The effect is that revenue generation from crude oil in the nearest future may reduce and put more pressure on the FIRS to seek alternative avenues from the non-oil sector, he said.

“We must bring to the fore, key issues impacting on our ability to maximize revenue potentials from various sources that have hitherto remained untapped,” Mashi said.

According to him, the service has surpassed its target in the recent past but mostly with a larger contribution from the oil and gas sector.

“The 2012 annual target of N3.6 trillion was met as at September, 2012. By December, 2012, FIRS collected a total revenue of N5.01trillion. In the first quarter of 2013, out of the FIRS target of N706.73 billion for non-oil revenue; we have been able to collect N528.71 billion or 75% of non-oil collection,” he added.

DailyTrust