By Correspondent in Lokoja.
Alhaji Sule Saliu Enehe.
Acting Executive Chairman, KGIRS.
The Kogi State Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), rose from N750 million per month in November 2021 to N1.3 billion per month in February 2022.
The Acting Executive Chairman of the Kogi State Internal Revenue Service (KGIRS), Alhaji Sule Salihu Enehe, disclosed this to the Correspondent of The Reporters, an online publication in Lokoja on Thursday.
“By November 17,2021 when I came in as acting chairman of the Service, what I met as Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) was about N750 million per month. But at same month, we were able to generate almost N1.2 billion and by February, we generated N1.3 billion per month.
The Acting Executive Chairman,who was Director of Audit of the Service, attributed the positive development to team work spirit he introduced in the process of tax collection.
He said:”I decided to tap from the ideas and experiences of members of staff of the Service, mobilised all of them and urged them to join me to achieve success in all this important assignment of collecting taxes for the running of governnent activities for the citizens.
“Based on experience, I realise that you don’t give what you don’t have. Therefore, to close gap in the knowledge of the staff, organised training for them for eight weeks, cutting all cadres of personnel to impact knowledge on them and boost their productivity.
“We have also repaired all the grounded vehicles meant to convey our transport tax collectors to various places to perform their duties effectively,” he added.
Alhaji Sule also told our correspondent that he entrenched the concept of steps as known in civil service in the payment of salaries of staff of the Service to put pay to complaints by the staff salaries and to mitigate the risk of inflation on them as well as boost their productivity among other benefits.
The effort is part of the factors responsible for the tremendous increase in the increase in the revenue being generated by the Service, with strong determination to enhance our efforts,”he said
The acting executive chairman, who expressed continued commitment of the Service to improve on its present performance, promised the staff of more incentives, including promotion, as soon as revenue increases to the level that the Service could implement such morale booster efforts.
On capital gain tax and property tax which tax analysts note have been dormant in the state, he expressed optimism that as soon as the laws in the state were harmonised and administered under a single entity, the Service would be able tap into such revenue potential to also raise the bar of its revenue generating efforts.
He described tax as a product not popular to market to the people, adding that knowing such phenomenon, he had embarked on meeting with the various segments of the population in the state state to appeal their conscience,on the need to pay tax to enable government provide qualitative services for their welfare.
He comnended the administration of Governor Yahaha Bello for the effective use of tax payers’ money to develop the state,as exemplified by the ongoing massive physical infrastructural development,especially at the state capital as well as relative peace being enjoyed by its people.
“Some people have forgotten that without paying their tax, government cannot provide enabling environment for them to live in peace,talkless of thriving as business men and women , therefore, the relative peace the people in the state are enjoying means tax at work,” the Acting Chairman,who is also a chartered accountant stressed.
“The responsibility of developing Kogi state does not rest on the shoulder of Governor Yahaha Bello alone, but on all of us and one of the ways to achieve this is for everybody to pay his or her tax for the state government to serve the people effectively,” he stressed.
Alhaji Sule,specifically appealed to the rich citizens of the state to take a cue from the conduct of the new Governor of Anambra state,Prof. Charles Soludo whom, he noted, paid annual tax of over N10 million as tax to that state government coffer as an individual without waiting for the governnent to reminded him of his civic duty to the state.
The Acting,who noted that the state is blessed with many rich men and women, with thriving enterprise,however,expressed concern that he had not seen where such individual pays upto N10 million as annual tax to the Kogi state.
The Acting Executive Chairman, who noted that one of such rich individual in the state who was reminded of the need to pay correct tax to the state government but read politics into such reminder, urged the rich in the area to declare their true income with a view to paying correct tax.
“When you pay your tax and correctly too,you are not just doing that as your a normal civic duty to the state as expected but that you will be able to beat your chest and say, I am one of those contributing to the growth and development of my state,” he advised.
Edited by Dada Ahmed.
