Lawmakers laud AKIRS for improvement in IGR

Abasifreke Effiong

Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly Committee on Finance and Appropriations has lauded the Akwa Ibom Internal Revenue Service (AKIRS) for the significant improvement in the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) in 2019.

AKIRS generated N26.6 billion, which represents about 84 percent of its projected revenue, as at the end of September 2019.

Chairman of the committee, Mr. Uduak Udoudo, gave the commendation when the AKIRS board led by its chairman Mr. Okon Okon appeared before his committee to defend the board’s 2020 budget.

“Looking at the IGR profile of the State, there is tremendous increment. We commend AKIRS for this.”

He said the House of Assembly will give necessary supports to the revenue board to be able to meet its target for the 2020 fiscal year.

Udoudo urged the board to enforce relevant laws against anyone who evades tax.

In his presentation, the chairman of AKIRS, Mr. Okon Okon thanked tax payers in the state for coming out voluntarily to pay their tax.

Okon noted that the signing into law of the State Internal Revenue Service Administration Law which grants autonomy to the board contributed to the quantum leap in revenue generated by AKIRS.

He however said that the IGR of the state will improve significantly when the autonomy is fully implemented.

The AKIRS is expected to generate N45 billion in 2020. To realise this, the board says it will stretch its tax net to the informal sector, and will also beam its light on oil and gas and maritime sectors of the State.

Chairman of the board said digitization of revenue collection process, development of a database for taxpayers, training of revenue staff on use of technology for revenue collection and taxpayers engagements will help to rave up revenue of the state.

He said despite achievements recorded by the board, there was a huge technology deficit which must be met for greater efficiency and result.

“The chief of all the challenges facing AKIRS is technology capacity. We can’t be running after taxpayers manually. If we have adequate technology to take care of payment, it will reduce human interferences and leakages in the revenue collection process.”

Okon said AKIRS will organise town hall meeting across the state for taxpayers to sensitive them on relevant taxes.