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SPECIAL SECTION ON RESULT-DRIVEN CHAIRMEN
OF STATES INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE
The Internal Revenue Service as the
name implies was established in
each state of the federation with the
mandate to manage the Internally
Generated Revenue (IGR) of the states and
also provide easy administration,
As a crucial agency in any state of the
federation, the Internal Revenue Service
(IRS) is one that every government
depends upon in growing its revenue for
proper planning and budgeting. As such, state
governors ensure that they appoint the best
hands to lead the agency, because it is one
agency of government that requires the
prowess of thoroughbred professionals in the
fields of accounting, taxation and auditing
who wouldn’t compromise on their ethical
codes.
One of such technocrats is Dr. Zaid
Abubakar, the Executive Chairman of the
Kaduna State Internal Revenue Service
(KADIRS). Young, innovation and resourceful,
he has proven within two years of his
appointment that Nigerian youths have the
capacity to bring about growth in nation
building when given the opportunity.
Prior to the El-Rufai led administration in
Kaduna State, the Internally Generated
Revenue (IGR) of the state was below N10
billion annually, but with the right policies
and restructuring of KADIRS, the IGR of the
state grew to N29.4 billion in 2018. With
Abubakar’s assumption of the leadership role
in 2019, the agency generated an
unprecedented IGR of N44.2 billion,
surpassing the N41.7 billion target for that
year. Despite the lockdown in the country as
occasioned by the corona virus pandemic in
2020, the agency also surpassed its target of
N43 billion by generating N50 billion into
the coffers of the state.
monitoring and coordination of all revenue
activities in the respective states.
Unarguably, the IGR generated varies
from one state to another, depending on a
number of factors such as the number of
corporate bodies available and the number
Our Goal Is To Ensure That Kaduna
State Is Self-Sufficient Through IGR
DR. ZAID ABUBAKAR, EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN,
KADUNA STATE INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE
Dr. David Nzekwu is the Executive
Chairman of the Anambra State
Internal Revenue Service (AIRS). He
holds a B.Sc. degree in Marketing of the
University of Nigeria, Master of Business
Administration (MBA) of the University of
South Wales, Wales, United Kingdom and
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Marketing
of the University of Nigeria. He also holds
various professional certificates including
the Senior Management Programme
(SMP) Certificate of the prestigious Lagos
Business School and Certificate in
Mortgage Advice and Practice (CeMAP) of
the School of Finance, Institute of Financial
Services, United Kingdom. He is a member
of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of
Nigeria (CITN) and Member of Chartered
Management Institute, (MCMI) London,
United Kingdom.
With over 20 years of experience in
banking and tax practice both at local and
international levels, he has been able to
bring his professional skills to bear in
Speaking with this genius steering the wheels
of KADIRS on how these feats have been
achieved, he explained that reforms in tax
administration, training of personnel based
on modern skill sets and proper
implementation of the Kaduna State tax laws
have contributed greatly to the success of his
team.
“Our achievement has been a combination
of professionalism, strong political will,
consultation with tax experts, an
implementation of a thoroughly designed
plan; structural reforms and widening of the
tax net to increase the number of tax payers.
We have also been able to ensure total
compliance by taxpayers which has helped
in the recovery of outstanding taxes. As the
sole collector of revenue for the state,
we have been able to harmonize
collections on behalf of all revenue
generating agencies in the state. In
addition, we have continuously upgraded the
skills of our staffers through quarterly
trainings, so as to ensure that they are up-todate
with the requirements of the industry”,
he said.
In January 2020, KADIRS under the
leadership of Abubakar introduced an
automated platform which enable taxpayers
to verify and retrieve their unique Tax
Identification Number (TIN), file tax returns
and compute tax liabilities, while those that
are self-employed can compute, file and
process their Direct Assessment.
In addition to these benefits, taxpayers can
turning around the fortunes of the AIRS as
evident in the growth of the state’s IGR. Prior
to his present office, he worked with UBA
Plc, Eco Bank (Nigeria) Plc, Citizens
International Bank (Nigeria)
Limited, Barclays Bank Plc, UK
and Fidelity Bank Plc where he
held senior positions, including -
Group Head, Retail Product Sales
and Propositions (Country wide),
Group Head, Loyalty Propositions
(Country wide) and Regional
Manager, Enugu/Ebonyi, South
East. He also had a spell at
Barclays Bank, UK where he
served as a Mortgage Specialist.
His love for the academic as seen
him taking up a part-time
appointment as a senior lecturer at the
University of Nigeria Business School where
he teaches Corporate Governance.
Innovative strategies in
repositioning AIRS
Initially, we tried to obtain data from
business owners for the purpose of tax
administration, but we discovered that it
was quite challenging because people had
to visit our offices to obtain their Tax
Identification Number (TIN). To alleviate
the people of this stress, we introduced the
Anambra State Social Service
Identification Number (ANSSID) and we
made it easy for anyone to register from the
comfort of their homes using facial
biometrics in collecting data. It has helped
us to increase revenue and expand the tax
bracket. Since its rollout, the database of
taxpayers has grown from 2,148 in 2018 to
300,000 as at January 2020 with a target of
500,000 in two years and three million in
of taxable population in these states. More
importantly, the level of competence of the
helmsman determines the amount a state
generates into its purse internally.
Due to the administrative ingenuity of
some of these chairmen, the IGR in their
upload Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) schedules,
purchase number plates for vehicles and
register or renew vehicle particulars. The
platform can also be used for the filling of tax
returns, self-assessment by taxpayers and
issuance of electronic tax certificate that can
be verified online by third parties.
Commenting on how the state has fared in
revenue generation amongst other states of
the federation, the amiable chairman of
KADIRS explained that the agency is leaving
no stone unturned in its quest to ensure that
the IGR of the state continues to increase. He
four years – covering individuals both at
home and in diaspora.
Blocking leakages in revenue
generation
We have deployed the use of ICT in all
our processes which includes the ANSSID
project. The implication of this is an
automation of the entire process of revenue
administration in the state. In essence, from
the point of enrolment to the final stage
which is the issuance of tax certificate, it is
fully digitized. We no longer issue tax
certificate or receipts manually and by
deploying technology, we have recorded
significant improvement in terms of
compliance. For instance, in 2020 we were
able to dampen the effect of covid-19 on
our IGR because as at 2019, our IGR stood
at N26 billion, but in 2020, we closed at
N28 billion.
Tackling multiple taxation in
Anambra State
To a large extent, we have been able to
tackle the issue of multiple taxation to the
barest minimum because prior to the
present administration in Anambra State,
there were different bodies who go about
collecting various levies from traders and
other business owners. This actually started
some years ago when traders in the state
voluntarily contributed N3,000 each to
support the state government in her projects
and as time passed, the associations began
to set structures that made them to be in
charge of collecting these monies for the
government which brought about the
proliferation of associations that are
interested in revenue collection.
SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 4, 2021, PAGE A1
respective states have continued to increase
significantly over the years, thereby
enabling the state government to address
critical needs and also reduce borrowing.
Meet some of these astute professionals in
the first part of this special report.
said, “it is not up to me to rate our
achievements in comparison with other states
of the federation, but I believe the monitoring
agencies and the statistics board are doing
that on a quarterly basis by ranking states
based on their performance. It is not an easy
task because we are not where we want to be,
but we are putting all the machinery in place
to ensure that we capture the expected revenue
we should collect.”
He added, “I honestly don’t think we are at
70 percent of where we want to be. Probably
we are between 50 to 55 percent, but we
are pushing to see that we really
achieve the goals that we have set
for ourselves.”
It is no gainsaying that under the
leadership of Abubakar, KADIRS
has become a more efficient public
institution with a private sector
orientation. Given all that the
agency has been able to achieve
within two years of his
chairmanship, the state’s IGR has
been projected at N51 billion for
the current fiscal year, but
Abubakar and his team are aiming
higher. Specifically, KADIRS is
targeting N60 billion as IGR by
the end of 2021.
According to him, “asides the
allocation from the federal
government, the first agency the
government calls upon is the IRS, but we are
trying to overturn that by ensuring that what
we generate internally is what the state relies
upon. Currently, we are among the ten states
that least depend on federal allocation and
this means that what we rely on is about 59.9
percent from the federal government, while
the rest comes from IGR.”
“Our present goal is to generate up to 70
percent of what the state requires, while our
long term projection is that by 2030, Kaduna
State will be self-sufficient through its IGR
and we are working assiduously to make it
happen”, he said.
We Have Fully Digitized Revenue
enue
Administration In Anambra State
Dr. David Nzekwu, Executive Chairman, Anambra State Internal Revenue Service
However, we have been able to set up a
hybrid system which is automated with the
use of authorized agents who belong to the
various trade unions.
Contribution of IGR to
planning and budgeting
What we have generated in recent times
in comparison with what was generated in
2013 has been in three folds. Based on the
budget of the state, the target we have
always had is to ensure that at the very
minimum, the IGR covers recurrent
expenditure of the state and we are
gradually heading in that direction. The
target in 2020 was N27 billion but we
eventually made N28 billion, this shows
how the IGR has supported the state
government in carrying out its functions.
Projections
For us in Anambra State, we believe that
we should be self-reliant in terms of IGR
that is required to run the state, so at AIRS,
our projection is to have a situation where
at the minimum, we generate an average
tax of N50,000 per trader annually. As it is,
we have an estimated 1.2 million traders in
Anambra State, so if they remit N50,000
annually, this means that we are looking at
N60 billion annually which translates to
N4,167 per month.
Moreover, we haven’t done much in terms
of property tax, so if we do more in that
direction, we can be sure of generating
enough revenue to take care of the state’s
budget. It is a long call and we know it is
difficult, but we believe that it is achievable
and all we need to do is to continue in the
current trajectory through further
deployment of ICT and skilled manpower.