Malam Yusufu Abubakar, the Acting Executive Chairman, Kogi State Internal Revenue Service (KGIERS), said that his agency collected N17.5 billion as Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) in 2020.
Abubakar made this known to members of the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Lokoja on Friday.
He said that the agency was also making progress by generating N1.3 billion monthly since he came on board in December 2020.
He said that the 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.
Abubakar noted that the focus of the new management in the last six months had been to block all identified leakages in the system to make life easier for the numerous tax payers in the state.
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.
Abubakar, however, noted that 25 to 50 per cent of vehicle documents being carried by motorists were fake and not genuine.
He recalled that the Kogi State Internal Revenue Service Harmonisation Bill passed into law in 2016 and became operational in 2017, had the sole responsibility of carrying out assessments, collecting taxes and reporting taxes collected to the executive governor of the state.Abubakar said the Kogi State Internal Revenue Service with its headquarters in Lokoja had 11 other areas offices across the 21 Local Government Areas of the state and staff strength of about 600.
Earlier, the Chairman of the Correspondents’ Chapel of Kogi NUJ, Mr Friday Idachaba, had commended the service for automating the payment processes, saying it would check fraudulent activities of the touts.
Idachaba, however, assured the chairman of his members’ cooperation and partnership in the effort to boost the state’s economy and advance its cause.
[NAN]
