The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has rejected allegations that the recent Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with France’s Direction Générale des Finances Publiques (DGFiP) grants the French agency any access to Nigeria’s tax data.
In a statement issued on Friday, the agency stressed that the agreement is purely a technical‑assistance and capacity‑building initiative, and that all Nigerian statutes concerning data protection, sovereignty and cybersecurity remain fully enforceable.
FIRS highlighted that the MoU includes stringent confidentiality provisions and does not transfer ownership or control of any digital infrastructure or operational systems to France.
According to FIRS, the partnership is advisory and non‑intrusive, intended to support Nigeria’s efforts to modernize its tax administration as it moves toward establishing the Nigerian Revenue Service (NRS).
By leveraging DGFiP’s extensive experience—spanning more than a century and a workforce of over 90,000 professionals—the collaboration will focus on workforce development, digital transformation, tax policy formulation, and regional cooperation, while Nigeria retains full sovereignty over its tax data and policy direction.
The revenue service also dismissed claims that the MoU would marginalize domestic technology firms, pointing to ongoing collaborations with Nigerian innovators such as NIBSS, Interswitch, PayStack and Flutterwave.
FIRS called on the public to engage in informed dialogue about tax reforms, emphasizing that accurate information is essential to understanding the agreement’s true purpose: to strengthen Nigeria’s tax system and promote long‑term economic resilience.
