October 20, 2017

Mr Adekunle Adeosun, the Chairman, Ogun State Internal Revenue Service (OGIRS), said on Friday that the agency generated more than N33 billion from January to Aug. 2017.

Adeosun made this known during an oversight visit of the State Assembly’s Committee on Finance and Appropriation to the agency’s head office in Abeokuta.

He said that the amount generated with the eight months under review was part of the estimated revenue of N41 billion approved for 2017.

According to him, the agency has already recorded 81 per cent performance.

The chairman stated that of the N33 billion generated by OGIRS, N31.6billion came from personal income tax, more than N1.2billion from withholding tax, and N318.5million from road tax.

“Some of the revenue also came from property tax, pools and lottery, levies and also from registration and other miscellaneous collection,’’ he said.

Adeosun explained that the achievement recorded in the area of huge revenue collection could be attributed to regular tax education and enlightenment of the public by the state government

According to him, the enumeration of existing and potential tax payers also contributed significantly to the success recorded.

“We do not have any interference from the governor of the state on the issue of tax collection which has significantly contributed to the success of OGIRS in its aggressive revenue drive.

“It could also be attributed to collaboration and exchange of information with Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and aggressive tax drive within the confine of the law.

“Low level of voluntary compliance by self employed individuals and informal sectors and paucity of funds to buy operational vehicles are some of the challenges we are facing in OGIRS,’’ he said.

Responding, Chairman of the state assembly committee, Mr Akanbi Bankole, congratulated the management of OGIRS on the huge revenue collected.

Bankole, however, charged the management of OGIRS to expand the revenue base of the state with a view to delivering more dividends of democracy to the people.

He urged OGIRS to ensure that carried members of the Ogun assembly along in the execution of some of its policies and programmes to improve the relationship between the lawmakers and the agency.