By Joke Adeniyi-Jackson
As the curtain is gradually drawing on the administration of Governor Abdulfattah Ahmed of Kwara State, there are high expectations from the public in terms of strategic development of the state. Aside the monthly federal allocation, one agency that is expected to provide a large chunk of fund for developmental projects is the Kwara State Internal Revenue Services (KWIRS). Therefore, all eyes are on the agency as regards its prospect for 2018 vis-à-vis how it would consolidate on its antecedent feat.
It is however instructive to note that the state is on the lowest rung of federal allocation ladder, a situation which has hitherto stifle developmental efforts of the present administration. This challenge informed the establishment of the agency- the sole entity for the collection of all revenues in the state.
There is no doubting the fact that the Dr. Muritala Awodun-led KWIRS has revolutionise revenue collection in the state, with evident high performance since its establishment two years ago. The state has witnessed astronomical improvement in its Internal Generated Revenue (IGR) through the altruistic service of the agency, which commenced operations in January 2016.
Despite the economic meltdown, KWIRS was able to move the state from the bottom in IGR to among top ten within two years, using new mechanism and approach by particularly blocking leakages.
In the drive for growth in IGR for the year, Awodun, the Executive Chairman of KWIRS, reeled out plans and strategies to be deployed by the agency for effective revenue mobilisation process and deliver on its mandate by maximizing collection rate and expansion of taxable base.
Speaking at a media parley on Tuesday in Ilorin, the chairman who described the previous operational years of the establishment as Start-up period said the agency has girdle its loin to improve on its revenue drive as it enters another phase-Growth period.
He said: “We have so far operated fully for two years. We have every cause to thank God for the success of those two years. As far as the assignment given to me as the executive chair, which is for four years is concerned, I still have two years. We have to look ahead, but we need to look at our past too, so that we can learn some lessons from there, what we have done well to intensify effort in doing it. What we didn’t do well we should find a way on improving upon it.”
Towards this end, the agency has mapped out strategies to increase its productivity; transiting from its earlier PRESS to PRAISE strategy.
“The two years gone past is our start- up period. We met the revenue at N7.2bn in 2016 and moved it up to N17.4bn and in 2017 the IGR figure is tentatively N19.4 bn because there are one or two information that are not yet in.
“We consider the two years as a good start up. We had our own share of challenges in the two years which we were able to surmount. Purpose of the startup has been fully accomplished. What method did we use in the last two years? We adopted PRESS framework as our strategy and it worked because people had to be patronised and persuaded. We had win and recruit support from our various stakeholders including the press, we had to elicit and energise our staff for total commitment. We carefully select the kind of staffing required to do the job and we had to adopted systematic reporting and that is why we hold quarterly parley with the media. On monthly basis we report back to owner of the business. That strategy we consider adequate only good for start up. The second half of the four years. The strategy is changing from PRESS to PRAISE to be able to grow the revenue of Kwara State in the next two years,” he explained.
Giving insight into the new adopted approach, the chairman said the essence is to gratify taxpayers and give them value for their money, which he theme as customer centric.
“We believe the people we persuaded and patronised in the early years should be praised in patronizing them the more. We have to thank them for the support they have given us in the past two years and continue to patronise them. So that every point in time, we make them satisfied. They are more or less our customers and we have to focus on them. So, customer centric approach is the system we intend to adopt.
“The Letter R is to reinforce and retain our stakeholder support-we have been able to recruit stakeholders from various association, traditional institutions, the media among others. We have to reinforce their support because if we allow a gap between us then the effort of the past two years would go down the drain.
“Letter A is to advance and advocate tax education because we believe people do not know enough about tax and we have to make sure that we have to continue on advocacy; step up our advocacy and there will be more patronage for the press because it is through the media that we can advocate and explore other medium of advancing tax education. “Letter I is to improve and intensify on our staff commitment in order to achieve our goal that government set for us.
“We will continue with the Letter S of systematic reporting-interacting with the press periodically. Because people need to know what we are doing and we need to be accountable for the responsibility given to us. And accountability is to the people who have actually surrendered their money in form of tax or revenue to government.
“The Letter E is that we are going to be engaging to enforce compliance. We are not only going to enforce compliance as we did in the past, this time around we will be engaging the people we enforce compliance on. We know that the strategy that has kept us thus far will not be adequate to move us ahead,” Awodun added.
In addition, the agency boss said the automation tax revenue system would be adopted this year in all ministries, department and agencies in the state, for improved operations and to block revenue leakages.
He assured that the agency would continue to give direction to the state government in fulfilling its part of the social contract with the taxpaying public, promising intensive community impacts programme this year.
According to him, the full potentials of the state in revenue mobilisation could be attained, noting that the media has a key role to play in realising the vision, stressing that the service experience difficulty in collecting revenue payable by some individuals as a result of inadequate advocacy.
“As KWIRS is concerned, we believe we cannot achieve our vision to mobilise revenue for the strategic development of the state without the support of the press. The press interacts with the government and the people.”
The chairman divulged that the agency has set a target of N38 billion as revenue to be generated internally for 2018. Awodun said that the revenue body was unable to meet the N24 billion target for 2017, because of the challenges it faced, identifying social pressure on the service as one of the factors that impeded its effort in meeting the target.
For far reaching impact of its community impact programme, Awodun disclosed that regional offices would be created across the three senatorial districts.
Meanwhile, speakers upon speakers at the event, commended KWIRS for its efforts at shoring up the revenue base of the state, just as they proffer suggestions on how the agency could up its game.
Speaking, the Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief, National Pilot Newspaper, Alhaji Billy Adedamola, who applauded the chairman for the proactive measure deployed for effective revenue mobilisation process, called for enhanced motivation for tax payers to further encourage compliance.
He noted that there are complaints from various quarters on alleged ‘harsh’ tax regime, urging the agency to ensure that its people oriented programmes are far reaching.
In his opening remarks, the convener of the event and the state Commissioner for Information, Alhaji Mahmud Ajeigbe said the essence of the parley is to improve on the synergy between KWIRS and the media.
Also present at the programme were the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Information, Mrs. Rhoda Ajiboye, the General Manager of the Herald Newspaper, Alhaji Rasaq Adebayo; his Radio Kwara and Kwara Television counterparts; Alhaji Abdullateef Adebowale Adedeji and Alhaji Abdulfatai Adebowale respectively.
Others are directors and management staff of KWIRS including the Director of Admin and Operations, Mrs. Adenine Babajamu.
