Mr. Simon Lalong, Governor of Plateau State.
By Marie-Therese Nanlong
Jos – The Chairman of Plateau State Internal Revenue Service, Dashe Dasogot has warned that any revenue collector found to be mounting roadblocks in the State would be sanctioned and the culprits would face State imprisonment upon conviction under the new revenue law.
Dasogot said this on Friday in Jos during the 2021 state public sector strategic engagement on taxation organized by PSIRS in collaboration with a marketing consulting firm, Unimark limited where he pointed out that the new law would not only enhance the profile of the internally generated revenue but would also ensure transparency and accountability in all forms of revenue collection in the State.
His words, “under the new law, it is now illegal for anybody, MDA or Local Government to mount a roadblock for the purpose of collecting any revenue due to it. Also, anybody who aids, abets, counsels or induces another person to commit an offence under the tax law, is liable on conviction to a fine equivalent to 400 percent of the sum in question.
“It is our desire that this drive for improved revenue generation will not be left to Government alone but that as stakeholders, the individuals and organizations in the private sector must be seen to also take the lead in ensuring its success.”
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He however, charged Chairmen of the 17 local government councils and MDAs to put more efforts into generating revenue internally to ensure that government’s plans and projects are executed to the benefit of the people.
Chairman of the occasion and Vice Chancellor of the Plateau State University, Professor Yohanna Izam added that the time has come for the state to diversify its economy for optimum performance and called on the citizens to key into government revenue strategies to enable it succeed.
Meanwhile, an economist, Samuel Wakdok while delivering a keynote address at the event with theme: “Latent opportunities for MDAs and Local Governments in Plateau State to Catalyze & Deliver Optimal Revenue Yield” stated that if Plateau State is determined to raise it internally generated revenue to a level that can sustain development, it must ensure an efficient tax management system with an innovative and customer-centric approach and guarantee that people, businesses and institutions, pay the right taxes and charges at the right time using the right mechanism to yield positive results.
According to him, “BudgiT’s IGR at State Level for 2020 puts Plateau State at 16th/37 with N19.122B i.e. N1.6B monthly. To catch up with No. 5, Kaduna State’s N50.768B we need an additional N31.664B or IGR of N4.23B monthly. To achieve our N5B monthly target and rake in N60B annually, we will have to grow our annual IGR collections by an additional N40.878B. Plateau State Internal Revenue Service have worked assiduously to produce the new tax template.
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“After seeing how every sector is covered, it makes the target of N5Billion monthly internally generated revenue realistic. But as we always say in Nigeria, “we have good policies, the problem is implementation.” The successful implementation of the Plateau State Revenue (Consolidation) Law 2020 is why we are here today… Our over reliance on oil revenue or federal allocation in the face of dwindling oil revenues is a likely source of tragedy in our own case.
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“While resource revenues are not taken from the people, taxes are or will be collected from the people. The more tax people pay or the more people who pay tax, the higher the standards, accountability and transparency they will demand from the government and her institutions. We must ensure an efficient tax management system with an innovative and customer-centric approach. We must guarantee that our people, businesses and institutions, pay the right taxes and charges at the right time using the right mechanism to yield positive results. A result-oriented tax system brings about tax for development which promotes the effective mobilization of public revenue mainly to foster development.”
He concluded that to achieve sustainable revenue in the State, there must be attitudinal change, collective responsibility to achieve the IGR needed to make the state viable.
