Sokoto State realises N11.4bn IGR in 6 months

Tue, Jul 23, 2019
By publisher
3 MIN READ

Economy

AMINU Dalhatu, the Chairman of Sokoto State Board of Internal Revenue, says the agency realised N11.4 billion as Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) from January to June this year.

Dalhatu disclosed this at a Tax and Gender-Responsive Schools’ Forum organised by ActionAid in collaboration with Rural Women and Youth Development (RUWOYD) on Tuesday in Sokoto.

He said that although the revenue target for the board was N28.6 billion for 2019, the board had put measures in place to surpass the target.

Dalhatu said that between 2015 and 2016, revenue collections had been low due to little or no collections in withholding tax on rent, capita gains tax (CGT) and the presumptive tax regime (Informal Sector).

Besides, he said there were low collections on Direct Assessment on Individuals and Enterprises, Land Use Charge (Ground Rent) and Telecommunications.

According to him, due to these low collections, in 2015, N4.2 billion revenue was collected out of N28.3 billion target while N4.5 billion was realised instead of N33.3 billion in 2016.

He added that some increases were recorded in 2017 and 2018 when collections rose to N9.1 billion out of N25.7 billion target and N13.1 billion out of N32.3 billion target respectively.

He said the increase was due to the mechanism put in place to eliminate leakages and other improved working conditions.

Dalhatu explained that most of the revenue came from the formal sectors and that the state revenue laws were obsolete and needed to be reviewed to boost the state revenue figure.

The chairman suggested that the deployment of Integrated Tax Administration System (ITAS) and effective automation would surely facilitate, improve and simplify collections.

Mr Oluwo Claude, a Coordinator with RUWOYD, said the ActionAid, an international organisation, partnered the state government to eradicate poverty and promote social justice among citizens.

He said ActionAid and the Sokoto State Government were working to ensure factors militating against education for the girl-child such as equality, equity and justice were eliminated.

According to him, the evaluation by ActionAid is being done in Lagos and Sokoto states, adding that in Sokoto State 30 schools were selected in Sokoto South, Tambuwal and Binji local government areas for evaluation

He said the project, which started in July 2017, was being carried out in Nigeria, Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania and it would end in 2021.

He urged all tiers of governments to engage quality teachers and provide better infrastructure to ensure all children in Nigeria had access to quality education for a greater Nigeria. (NAN)

– July 23, 2019 @ 15:09 GMT |

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