Catch up with the news!

By Marie-Therese Nanlong

Plateau State Internal Revenue Service, PSIRS has instituted a whistleblowing sub-committee to encourage citizens to volunteer helpful information that would aid in enforcing the Revenue Law 2020.

The said Law seeks to consolidate Internally Generated Revenue in the State so as to give accurate data on the IGR of the State.

The guideline as explained by the Chairperson of the sub-committee, Dr. Nancy Katu-Ogundimu is intended to provide citizens who believe they have discovered some malpractices, impropriety or any wrongdoing with information to block such.

Speaking at the maiden edition of the whistleblowing stakeholders’ engagement, Dr. Katu-Ogundimu said the event was to present the whistleblowing operational guidelines and procedures to the stakeholders and assured of the state revenue council’s commitment to the highest standards of transparency, accountability, probity and confidentiality for whistleblowers.

According to her, “To achieve this, the council set up a whistleblowing sub-committee, in line with Article 2.4 of the Governance Charter, to encourage members of the public and stakeholders to bring out helpful information in enforcing the Revenue Law 2020. An important aspect of ensuring accountability and transparency is a mechanism to enable employees of the Plateau government, members of the public and stakeholders to voice concerns in a responsible and effective manner.

“To this end, the whistleblowing mechanism is aimed at encouraging the public and employees of the state government, members of the public and all stakeholders to share information that will be helpful in effectively enforcing the Revenue Law 2020.”

Also, the State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Barr. Chrysantus Ahmadu added the law is not to deprive other tiers of government of their resources but the aim is to have a harmonized system of revenue process in the state.

Represented by the Secretary of Plateau State Internal Revenue Service, PSIRS, Rahila Olu-Silas, he noted “This is an important aspect of ensuring accountability and transparency, it is a mechanism to enable employees of the Plateau State Government, members of the public and stakeholders to voice concerns in a responsible and effective manner. The whistleblowing mechanism is aimed at encouraging the public and employees of the Plateau State Government, members of the public and all stakeholders to share information that will be helpful in effectively enforcing the Revenue Law 2020. 

“It is important to emphasize that this guideline is intended to provide individuals who believe they have discovered some malpractice, impropriety or any of the wrongdoings mentioned above with information on the required reporting procedure. This operational guideline and procedures are intended to cover concerns which are in the public interest and may at least initially be investigated separately but might then lead to the invocation of other procedures e.g., disciplinary actions.”

Commenting on the development, the Chairman of the Service, Dashe Arlat, stated that with the whistleblowing committee on board, if properly managed, the revenue profile of the service will increase tremendously as leakages will be blocked and fraud reduced.