Akwa Ibom Internal Revenue Service to Digitalize, Expands Tax Net in 2025
By Dennis Udoma, Uyo
Chairman, Akwa Ibom State Internal Revenue Service (AKIRS), Sir Okon Okon has said the revenue service would commence full digitalization of tax collections and expand its tax collection net to rake in more income for the state government from 2025 fiscal year.
Sir Okon was addressing newsmen in Uyo during his Internal Revenue Service Performance Review.
He said the decision was part of the highlights of a two-day strategic sessions of the Revenue Board to appraise their responsibilities and projections in years to come.
He explained that, the board in its bid to boost revenue generation in Akwa Ibom is planning to roll out a bouquet of electronic assessment comprising, the e-tax clearance process, e-filing of tax returns, automation of registration and reporting processes among others to nib leakages in tax administration.
According to him, “We are pleased to inform our publics that we will be speeding up on our digitalization programme next year by further expanding the automation of our processes and deepening our data-driven initiatives.
“This is to significantly improve our operational efficiency and increase the State’s IGR without increasing any tax rate.
“We are confident that without increasing any tax rate, the IGR of our State would be improved via the application of technology, increased tax awareness campaigns, and the expansion of tax net to capture tax evaders.
“Therefore, our focus for next fiscal year would be to transform our processes from a semi-manual system to full automation. We intend to achieve an end-to-end automation of all our tax processes.
“AKIRS plans to roll-out electronic assessment; e-tax clearance process, e-filing of tax returns, automation of registration, collection and reporting processes with the ultimate aim of enhancing efficiency in revenue collection, taxpayers’ experience and minimization of human interference,” Okon said.
While assuring that, the revenue service would be cautious not to embark on any initiatives that would scuttle business growth or create unnecessary burden on individual tax payers, Okon said, the board will upscale its ongoing tax sensitization and enlightenment campaigns to raise awareness on tax payment as a civic responsibility and deepen voluntary compliance in the state.
He said Akwa Ibom has been performing creditably well in its revenue profile over the years adding that, the state’s IGR rose from N34.75 billion in 2022 to N43.18 billion in 2023 as indicated in the figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and Joint Tax Board (JTB), the apex body for tax authorities and final authority for reporting tax revenues in Nigeria.
He also disclosed that, the state ranked among top 10 in IGR performance in Nigeria in 2023, coming 4th among the nine states of the Niger Delta in the recent ranking published by the NBS.
He said, “Our IGR trend shows significant and steady growth, with about 170 per cent increase over the past six years; rising from N15.96 billion in 2017 to N43.18 billion in 2023.”
The chairman attributed the impressive growth in revenue service to what he described as a “significant governance reforms by the State Government, improvement in corporate governance, and operational processes by the Board and the business-enabling environment created by the administration of Governor Umo Eno.
On tax evasion by International Oil Companies (IOCs), Okon disclosed Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited operating in the state have improved and remitted their taxes to government as at when due.
He maintained that, other oil companies could not pay their taxes because of pending litigations but, expressed optimism that, when those cases are disposed by courts, the affected oil companies would remit taxes according to plan.
