By Emeka Mamah
Kaduna state government said it realized about N20.5 billion as internally generated revenue (IGR) between 2005 and 2009.

Executive Chairman of the state Board of Internal Revenue (BIR), Ahmed Jibril, who disclosed this, said that  N6.1 billion was realised in 2009 alone, a figure which he said is expected to increase at the end of this year.

Jibril told Vanguard in an interview that there has been remarkable improvement in the state’s internally-generated revenue and attributed the development to a number of factors including improved welfare and training for staff as well as various enlightenment campaigns to educate tax payers.

According to him, government is so impressed with the performance of the Board and directed it to supervise other ministries and departments of government that generate revenue – a factor which has led the Board to expand its Pay Direct System and opening of new mini offices throughout the state.

His words: “Let me start from 2005 when we generated N2.6 billion. In 2006, we generated N2.8 billion and in 2007 it jumped to N3.7 billion, an increase of about N900 million. In 2008 when I was appointed chairman, we generated N5.3 billion. Then last year, we made N6.1 billion. You see that the increase is beginning to go up. It is like a graph. It started slowly then went up and it is beginning to stabilise now.

“For the graph to go up again, you need to inject some new things. What we did before was training, computerisation and then blocking of leakages. Now, to move from this place, we have to do more things and that is why  we have developed a six year strategic plan beginning from this year and at the end of which we hope to be on the Internet so that you can pay your tax to the Kaduna state government from wherever you are in the world.

“There has been a lot of support from government and this gave us the foundation and then management started with training especially on attitudinal change. In the past we used to see ourselves as the king but we said no, the tax payer should be king because we are running a tax business.

The tax collector is the servant. We used local and international consultants who are reputable in taxation, through assistance from the World Bank and DFID. They brought consultants from the Netherlands, from the UK and from South Africa.

“These training gave us the capacity to move forward. And we started to block leakages especially with improved remuneration for the staff. We introduced the Pay Direct System which is a computerised system of tax collection. The tax payers do not come to the office to pay. They go to the banks. All banks in Nigeria are connected to the Pay Direct System.

“So when you have an assessment, you go to the bank, any bank, and pay and I see it on my system immediately and the same connection is also linked to the Government House so that if the Governor wants to see it he will see it.

“It is also there on the desk of the Commissioner for Finance. There is transparency there because whatever I do here, the Governor and the Commissioner of Finance see it.

“The tax payers are happy because in the past you had to travel many kilometres before you find a tax office. Today, there are more bank branches than tax offices. When you pay at the bank, the system generates an instant receipt.

“It also reduced the cost of doing business. We also embarked on enlightenment campaigns to educate people on taxation and why there is need for them to pay taxes. From the administration of former Governor Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi to date there has been a lot of improvement in the state than in some other states.