A rare gem at Revenue House, Lokoja.
By Otori Ozigi
According to late iconic and legendary statesman, Nelson Mandela,a good head and a good heart are always a great combination.
This truism is the total reflection of the personality of KGIRS boss, Alhaji Sule Salihu Enehe, who is the face of tax administration in Kogi State today.
Since he was given the rare opportunity to pilot the affairs of the service, the chartered accountant turned tax administrator,has never betrayed the confidence the state government and other stakeholders reposed in him.
His appointment which was confirmed recently, came at a time the government was searching for a competent, knowledgeable, capable, and experienced hand with the requisite educational pedigree, professional expertise and impeccable character to turn around the dwindling fortunes of KGIRS.
It would be recalled that the service has a long history of mixed bag of fortunes under previous management before the present tenure of Alhaji Sule Salihu Enehe.
As at the time of his appointment, KGIRS was struggling to post the monthly IGR of about N750 million ,a figure considered by stakeholders as abysmal and out of tune with the full potentials of the service.
Recall that previous management of KGIRS under the administration of Alhaji Yahaya Adoza Bello, had already placed the IGR performance of the service in the neighborhood of between N1b and N1.3b monthly, before it suddenly nosedived.
It was against this background, that the government began the search for a new helmsman to return the service to it’s high performing ways.
Until his appointment as Executive Chairman, Alhaji Sule Salihu Enehe was the Director Tax Audit and Compliance,a position that adequately prepared him for his present responsibility.
He had since repositioned the service for optimal performance and tax payers compliance. Tax payers in Kogi State now file their taxes payers without any prompting.
The staff of the service have been trained and retrained for higher productivity level, while their welfare has been enhanced in keeping with extant best practices.
It is noteworthy that the present Executive Chairman has lived up to the huge expectations placed on him.
In his first year in office in December 2022, the service was able to post over N18b, while it successfully surpassed the N23b target set for 2023.
This year, he has his sight and focus on achieving the N50b target set for the service by the state government.
With the level of unwavering commitment, dedication and focus by the management team and staff, this new target is considered realistic and doable by stakeholders in the state.
It is easy to see that Alhaji Sule Salihu Enehe is a quintessential and transformational Tax administrator, imbued with the midas touch.
Better days are ahead for KGIRS under his watch.
