By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Kogi State collected N17.5 billion internally generated revenue (IGR) in 2020, a mere 4 per cent of the N418.99 billion made by Lagos, first on the leader board, and 62 per cent of the N28 billion garnered in Anambra, bottom of the top 10.
Like all the states in the North Central that fill the national food basket, Kogi is an agrarian state but has volumes of untapped solid minerals, including coal, iron-ore, bauxite, and limestone.
Kogi State Internal Revenue Service (KGIRS) acting Executive Chairman, Yusufu Abubakar, disclosed the amount in Lokoja, but said the agency has been making progress generating N1.3 billion monthly since his appointment in December 2020.
He disclosed that IGR hovered between N350 million and N500 million monthly before the establishment of KGIRS by the administration of Governor Yahaya Bello.
According to Vanguard, Abubakar said the focus of the new management in the last six months has been to block all identified leakages in the system to save funds and provide social welfare that makes life easier for tax payers.
In the coming weeks, he disclosed, KGIERS will introduce online innovation as part of automation of revenue collection.
He announced that tax payment and vehicle registration as well as renewal of particulars will all be automated to avert fake documents’ issuance and other sharp practices.
“We are aiming at a situation where motor owners can access their particulars, register their vehicles and renew their papers through Kogi Revenue Service portal.
“They can even stay in the comfort of their homes to carry out all the transactions online,’’ Abubakar said, per Vanguard.
He added that between 25 and 50 per cent of documents possessed by motorists are fake.
KGIRS has its headquarters in Lokoja and 11 areas offices across the 21 councils in the state and a workforce of about 600.
States, FCT generate N1.31tr IGR
Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) show that the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) collected N1.31 trillion IGR in 2020, a shortfall of -1.93 per cent on N1.33 trillion in 2019.
Broken down, the figures are as follows:
1. Lagos N418.99 billion
2. Rivers N117.19 billion
3. FCT N92.05 billion
4. Delta N59.732 billion
5. Kaduna N50.768 billion
6. Ogun N50.749 billion
7. Oyo N38.042 billion
8. Kano N31.819 billion
9. Akwa Ibom N30.696 billion
10. Anambra N28.009 billion
11. Edo N27.184 billion
12. Ondo N24.848 billion
13. Enugu N23.650 billion
14. Osun N19.668 billion
15. Kwara N19.604 billion
16. Plateau N19.122 billion
17. Zamfara N18.499 billion
18. Kogi N17.357 billion
19. Imo N17.081 billion
20. Cross River N16.183 billion
21. Abia N14.376 billion
22. Kebbi N13.778 billion
23. Ebonyi N13.591 billion
24. Bauchi N12.502 billion
25. Nasarrawa N12.476 billion
26. Bayelsa N12.180 billion
27. Sokoto N11.796 billion
28. Borno N11.578 billion
29. Katsina N11.399 billion
30. Niger N10.524 billion
31. Benue N10.463 billion
32. Jigawa N8.667 billion
33. Ekiti N8.716 billion
34. Gombe N8.537 billion
35. Adamawa N8.329 billion
36. Taraba N8.114 billion
37. Yobe N7.779 billion
The NBS said the data was computed by it and the Joint Tax Board (JTB) from official records and submissions by the 36 State Boards of Internal Revenue (SBIR).
It added that the submissions were validated and authenticated by the JTB, which is chaired by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) with the NBS and the 36 SBIR as members.