Tax and revenue collection by the Government of Kano State, the major economic centre in Northern Nigeria, is set for a major transformation.
The Executive Chairman of Kano State Internal Revenue Service (KIRS), Alhaji Abdurrazak Datti Salihi, said this in Kano Monday while receiving Leadership in IGR Award 2019/2020, presented to him by Alford Conferences Limited.
According to the KIRS chairman, “We are investing in automation to improve tax collection in Kano State. Our agency has also put in place various measures to reach out to Kano traders as well as others in the informal sector to raise the level of tax compliance across the state. We shall be showing the citizens of Kano State, on a regular basis, how we utilize our internally generated revenue. This will encourage them to pay their taxes as at when due.”
The Chairman/CEO of Alford Conferences Limited, Mr. Frederick Apeji, said that, “We are here to honour Alhaji Abdurrazak Datti Salihi, the Executive Chairman of KIRS, in recognition of Kano as one of the top 12 most independent states in revenues in Nigeria in 2019. Among the FCT and 36 states of Nigeria, Kano was the 11th most independent in total revenue last year, with 32.98 percent of all its revenues generated internally,” he said.
While formally receiving the Class of 2019 State Governors in Nigeria in 2019, the Vice President of the country, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, charged them to explore ways of improving their internally generated revenue (IGR) in the next few years. In his words, “It was possible for states to generate significant revenues from agriculture. After all, the mind boggling achievements of the regions in our history were without oil money, but mainly from agriculture and taxes.”
In 2019, 34 states in Nigeria, including Kano, depended on the Federation Account for more than 50% of their entire revenue. Recently, the Chairman of the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal CommissionRevenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission RMAFC
(RMAFC), Engr. Elias Mbam, warned that this Federation Account, on which majority of the states depend so much, is over stressed. Mr. Mbam urged state governments to develop strategies to boost their internal revenue.
