The Federal Government says it has recovered about ₦30 billion both from individuals and corporate establishments through the Federal Government-initiated Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS).

Announcing this in Abuja on Wednesday while speaking at a workshop for tax authorities and unveiling of VAIDS certificates to those who partook in the voluntary assets and income declaration, chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Tunde Fowler said the FIRS collected about 90 percent of the figure while the various states of the federation collected 10 percent.

Fowler said the scheme has had unquantifiable impact on promoting voluntary compliance since its inception last year, adding that one of the outcomes of the initiative was its direct impact on the increase of taxpayers’ database from under 14 million before 2016 to over 19 million in 2018.

“We are confident that these numbers will translate into a positive growth in Nigeria’s Tax Revenue to GDP ratio when the official percentage for 2017 is released,” Fowler said.

According to him, the National Tax Policy Implementation Committee (NTPIC) is also proposing a National Tax Day, a special day to be set aside every year for promoting awareness and sensitization of Nigerians on tax- related matters.

He stressed that as part of activities to ensure increased awareness on the scheme in particular and tax compliance in general, staff of the Joint Tax Board (JTB) secretariat in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Finance would continue to hold weekly Tax Thursday sensitization exercises in all the the states till the end of the amnesty programme on June 30.