The Federal Inland Revenue Service has pushed back against allegations by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar that a private technology company, Xpress Payments Solutions Limited, has been handed exclusive control of Nigeria’s revenue-collection channels.
In a statement issued by Aderonke Atoyebi, a Technical Assistant to the Executive Chairman, the FIRS described Atiku’s assertion as inaccurate and politically charged. The agency clarified that Nigeria’s tax collection system does not operate a single-gateway structure and that no private company has been given monopoly authority over federal revenues.
According to the FIRS, multiple payment providers are currently approved to process tax transactions. These include Quickteller, Remita, Etranzact, Flutterwave, and XpressPay, all operating within what the service describes as a transparent and competitive payment ecosystem.
The News Chronicle gathered that the government’s arrangement is designed to increase convenience for taxpayers and expand digital access through several verified platforms rather than concentrating control in one operator.
The controversy began after Xpress Payments was named as one of the firms allowed to receive tax remittances under the Treasury Single Account framework. Atiku argued that the move quietly introduced a politically connected intermediary into sensitive federal revenue processes and compared it to private revenue cartels he accused of operating in Lagos.
The FIRS countered this claim by noting that Payment Solution Service Providers are not designated as collectors of government revenue. The agency said payments flow directly into government accounts without diversions or percentage deductions and insisted that the onboarding of digital platforms follows verifiable procedures that ensure fairness.
The tax authority appealed to political actors to avoid misrepresenting its reforms, warning that Nigeria’s revenue system is too important to be undermined by speculation. It also reaffirmed its commitment to transparency and ongoing modernisation efforts under the national fiscal reform programme
