Redemption Party Rejects Nigeria/French Tax Deal

The Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) has rejected the recent signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the French Directorate Générale des Finances Publiques (DGFP) on digital transformation and information exchange.

It also condemned the appointment of Xpress Payment Solutions Limited as the official Treasury Single Account (TSA) collecting agent for federal government revenue.

PRP, in a statement by its national chairman, Falalu Bello, said the signing of an MoU by the FIRS with DGFP is a reckless act of outsourcing Nigeria’s tax data management to a foreign government, which poses grave threats to the country’s sovereignty, economy and national security.

The opposition party said that despite the public statement by the FIRS defending the MoU, its concerns and objections regarding the agreement remain fully valid until the content of the MoU is made public.

According to PRP, such assurances do not mitigate the inherent risks of relinquishing control over Nigeria’s critical fiscal data to a foreign entity.

It said any nation that cedes control of its tax data to foreign entities risks becoming a puppet in the global financial system, insisting such dependency erodes Nigeria’s economic independence and undermines its ability to craft policies that serve the people’s interests.

“No country with a sovereign future willingly subjects its fiscal backbone to external control. Foreign-controlled digital systems open the door to mass surveillance, digital exploitation, and potential misuse of sensitive Nigerian data.

They expose our citizens and institutions to espionage, digital colonisation, and economic sabotage—threatening our national security and integrity.

“Real-time visibility into Nigeria’s thriving sectors and struggling industries gives France, an external power, unwarranted leverage in future trade negotiations, investments, and loan agreements. No self-respecting nation should hand over its tax infrastructure to a foreign power, risking geopolitical blackmail and economic subjugation.

“We view the actions of the APC administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu as both retrogressive and neo-colonialist, eroding the sovereignty of the Nigerian state and exposing the financial data of Nigerians and our companies to the worst of colonial powers that Africa has seen—France. We vehemently oppose such a move.

“The full implementation of Nigeria’s tax reforms must remain entirely in Nigerian hands. Foreign entities must have no access to Nigerian tax data, financial transactions, or digital records. Homegrown institutions such as NIBSS, Flutterwave, PayStack, Interswitch, and others should be contracted to develop and manage our tax technology. All foreign-led proposals, including the FIRS-France MoU, must be terminated immediately.

“Equally concerning is the decision of the APC Bola Tinubu administration to appoint Xpress Payment Solutions Limited as a Treasury Single Account (TSA) collecting agent by the FIRS. This mirrors the resurrection of the dangerous model of the Alpha Beta revenue collection cartel of Lagos State at the national level,” the party said.

It called on the National Assembly to protect the country against the abuses and excesses of the executive in a presidential system of government, stating that the apex legislature must urgently pass the necessary data-sovereignty amendments before the new tax law commences operations in January 2026.

“Tax data is the heartbeat of our economy; surrendering it to foreign control endangers our sovereignty and future. The same National Assembly must ask and get satisfactory answers to at least the four questions we raised above regarding the appointment of Xpress Payment Solutions Limited. We must never be turned into Lagos State in terms of revenue collection, as that model serves only the interests of the cartel that runs it.

“We also call on every patriotic Nigerian and civil liberty organisation to rise and halt these dangerous precedents. Our economic future and national sovereignty depend on our ability to maintain control over our digital and fiscal infrastructure in Nigerian hands. Our national wealth should not and must not be brazenly frittered away by a cartel in the name of revenue collection.

“We must reject any foreign intrusion into our financial systems and recommit to building a self-reliant, resilient economy that serves Nigerians first and foremost. We also must reject being short-changed in the name of revenue collection,” it added.