By Peter Duru, Makurdi

The Benue State Board of Internal Service, BIRS, has set a target of N16 billion in Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, for the fiscal year 2024.

The acting Executive Chairman of the Board, Mr. Emmanuel Agema who made this known while speaking with newsmen in Makurdi said the Board was determined to achieve or exceed the target.

He said the board had exceeded its target of N14.6billion it set for itself last year assuring that the year 2024 might not be different with the level of commitment of the staff and management of the board.

He said “when we assumed office Governor Hyacinth Alia gave us a directive to ensure that the board meets the expectations of government in terms of revenue generation and not be used as a place for patronage.

“We immediately went to work and ensured that all those contracted to collect tax on behalf of the board who were not even knowledgeable in tax collection were relieved of that responsibility. Our staff completely took over tax collection across the state.

“We also embarked on the automation of our collection system and ensured that we regained the confidence of taxpayers in carrying out their responsibilities to the state.”

The Chairman said the measure immediately paid off, “it is clear that we are doing better than what was done in the past in terms of revenue generation.

“We are also putting more measures in place to ensure that our target is met. We have set a target of N16billion this year and we hope to achieve it and possibly exceed it. Last year the target was N14.6billion, we met it and even exceeded it. 

“Already we have configured over 200 Point of Sale, POS, machines that we will deploy to the markets, motor parks, and other places with which we will ensure that artisans, bus drivers, market women and men among others make tax payments in small amounts as part of their responsibilities to the state.

“This we are doing because the people are willing to pay their taxes since they can see that the government is working, everyone is willing to contribute to ensure that the government succeeds.”