The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has demanded the immediate termination of the recently signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Direction Générale des Finances Publiques, the tax authority in France.
The forum warned that the agreement could compromise Nigeria’s economic sovereignty and national security. In an open letter addressed to the Federal Government, the Senate, and the House of Representatives yesterday, NEF described the deal as a “dangerous tax data agreement” that opens Nigeria’s most sensitive financial information to foreign access.
The Forum viwdd to oppose the deal with every moral, civic, and constitutional tool available to ut, stressing that it is no longer a policy issue, but a matter of national survival.
Spokesperson for the forum, Prof. Abubakar Jiddere, said the MoU was not merely a technical cooperation, but represents an unprotected gateway into Nigeria’s tax infrastructure.
According to him, it “places critical economic data in the hands of a foreign government whose engagements across Africa have often led to economic manipulation and political interference.”
The forum contended that Africa’s experience with French influence has frequently resulted in longterm dependency and economic setbacks.
They warned that Nigeria risks repeating the mistakes of other nations if it allows France access to its tax data, especially at a time when the country is grappling with insecurity, a fragile currency, and rising unemployment.
“The FIRS–France deal is not aid; it is an entry into our economic bloodstream. Nigeria must not surrender control of its fiscal systems under the guise of technical collaboration,” Jiddere said. Nigeria, the group argued, already has capable local technology firms capable of managing tax systems without foreign intervention.
They criticised legislative gaps that allowed the MoU to be signed without parliamentary scrutiny and urged lawmakers to pass data-sovereignty amendments before FIRS begins full operations in January 2026.
The forum called on the Federal Government to halt the MoU and ensure Nigeria’s tax data remains fully under national control.
It also advised the FIRS to engage only Nigerian technology firms for tax infrastructure, and prohibit foreign entities from storing or processing the country’s tax information.
