…Assures End to Multiple Taxation
By Ekemini Simon
The Akwa Ibom State Government through Akwa Ibom State Internal Revenue Service, AKIRS has generated an all-time peak revenue of N32.29 billion in the 2019 fiscal year.
This information was made known on Wednesday by the Chairman of AKIRS, Mr Okon Okon during a One-Day Workshop organised by Akwa Ibom State Internal Revenue Service in collaboration with Nigerian Governors’ Forum for members of Joint State Revenue Committee, JSRC among other Stakeholders.
The AKIRS Chairman noted that the trend in the State’s IGR for the past five years were as follows: 2015- N14.78 billion, 2016-14.97 billion, 2017- N15.96, 2018- N24.21 Billion, and in 2019- N32.29 Billion.
Mr Okon offered insight to the fact that the steady rise in revenue generation for the State stems from the reforms in revenue administration initiated by Governor Udom Emmanuel.
He said that the reform commenced with the granting of autonomy to the Akwa Ibom State Internal Revenue Service in June 2016 with consequent inauguration of the current Board in April 2017.
While noting that the amount generated will remain a big testament to Governor Udom Emmanuel’s performance, the AKIRS helmsman added “Despite the aforementioned, the potentials of IGR in the State is still under tapped. It is therefore against this background that AKIRS in collaboration with Joint State Revenue Committee (JSRC) will be embarking on massive tax awareness and sensitization programmes via town hall meetings across the three senatorial districts beginning from next quarter to create tax awareness and engage taxpayers/the general public.
RELATED : AKS MDAs to take 2.5% out of Revenues Generated
“Such fora will be used to educate the general public on all tax matters as well as provide the opportunity for feedback from taxpayers and share information on the application of taxpayers’ money by the State Government.”
The Chief Tax Officer of the State noted that with the knowledge gained from the sensitization workshop, he hopes that Revenue Administrators in the State will develop a template and strategies to bring to an end to the vexed issues of multiple taxation and taxpayers’ complaints in the State hence create a harmonious tax environment.
He charged tax administrators to work on measures to bring about innovations in tax collection system especially adoption of technology and automation in their processes.
The Chairman explained that the objective of the workshop is to refresh the technical knowledge and skills of Revenue officers in the three (3) Tax authorities in the State on taxes, levies and fees collectible by the different Tax Authorities in order to eliminate multiple taxation and taxpayers complaints and thereby create a friendly tax environment in the State.
He noted that the conception of the objective is linked to the very essence of the creation of Joint Tax Board (JTB) as enshrined in the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He equally stated that similarly, the State JSRC was created in 2008 as a counterpart at the sub-national level.
Mr Okon mentioned that in order to jump-start the activities of JRSC in the State and make it visible after its inauguration in January 2018, AKIRS offered to provide it with a suitable office accommodation at No. 110 Abak Road, Uyo.
The Chairman added “ This is in addition to giving it all the necessary supports which the Secretariat will require pending when the JSRC will be able to attract funding support from members and other stakeholders. “It is the sincere hope of this workshop to bring to extinction incidences and complaints by Taxpayers about issues relating to multiple tax collection which ultimately breach the principle of Fairness in taxation”.
RELATED: Tax Default: AKSG Goes Tough On ExxonMobil Over N24.5bn Debt
The sensitization workshop had Nigerian Governor’s Forum Lead IGR Expert, Dr Mark Abani as the Technical Expert who made presentation.
