The Kogi state government announced that it recorded an Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of N17.5 billion for the year 2020.
This was disclosed by Malam Yusufu Abubakar, the Acting Executive Chairman, Kogi State Internal Revenue Service (KGIERS), in a meeting with newsmen in Lokoja on Friday.
The Kogi Tax boss added that the agency was also making progress by generating N1.3 billion monthly since he came on board in December 2020, according to the News Agency of Nigeria.
What the Kogi State tax boss is saying
Abubakar said that blocking all identified leakages in the system to make life easier for the numerous taxpayers in the state had been the focus of the new management in the last six months.
“Revenue profile of the state was undulating between N350 million and N500 million prior to the inception of the state Internal Revenue Service by the administration of Gov. Yahaya Bello.
“We have been battling to fix things aright, to see how we can change the trajectory, change the focus of what we have been doing at Kogi Internal Revenue Service,” Abubakar said.
He said the Service had decided to automate tax payment, noting that 25 to 50 per cent of vehicle documents being carried by motorists were fake and not genuine.
“We want a situation whereby the shop owner that is directly opposite the Revenue House does not actually need to go to the bank next street for him to make payments.
“As we speak we have engaged a partner for us to be able to automate all our processes of assessment and collection which takes the bulk of what we do.
“And all I would say now is, I believe within the next 90 days we should be able to achieve at the very least, 50 per cent to 70 per cent of automating our processes,” he said.
The chairman assured that in the next three weeks, the service would introduce online innovation in the dire need to automate its processes.
According to him, processing of tax payments and vehicle registration as well as renewal of particulars would all be automated to avert cases of fake documents’ issuance and sharp practices.
“We are aiming at a situation where motor owners can access their particulars, register their vehicles and renew their papers through Kogi Revenue Service portal.
“They can even stay in the comfort of their homes to carry out all the transactions online,” he said.
He revealed that the Kogi State Internal Revenue Service with its headquarters in Lokoja had 11 other area offices across the 21 Local Government Areas of the state and a staff strength of about 600.
What you should know
Nairametrics reported in April that the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory generated a sum of N1.31 trillion as Internally generated revenue (IGR) in 2020, as contained in the state IGR report which was released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
According to the report, the states’ IGR declined by 1.93% from N1.33 trillion, recorded in the previous year to N1.31 trillion in 2020. It however increased by 11.7% compared to N1.69 trillion recorded in 2018.
- States generated N1.09 trillion from taxes in the year 2020, accounting for 83.3% of the total IGR received in the year.
- Tax revenue also declined, when compared to N1.11 trillion collected in the previous year. This represents a 2.25% decline year-on-year.
- Lagos State recorded the highest Internally Generated Revenue of N418.99 billion, accounting for 32.1% of the total and closely followed by Rivers State with N117.19 billion.
