The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, has assured that Nigeria will continue to meet matured financial obligations to foreign investors and her international trading partners.
Speaking to visiting members of the German business delegation in Abuja, Emefiee said that Nigeria has been going through economic crisis due mainly to shocks arising from falling global oil prices, pointing out that the effect has been a severe shortfall in foreign exchange revenues.
He told the visitors that given the development, the country is left with no option than to diversify the nation’s economic production base and curtail frivolous importation.
The apex bank’s sued for their understanding on the regulator’s policies, which he said are meant to conserve foreign exchange, assuring them of the CBN’s effort to meet demands within the available forex resources.
Earlier, the leader of the visiting team, Vice Minister and Member of Parliament, Uwe Beckmeyer of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, said the essence of the visit was to familiarise themselves with developments in Nigeria’s financial sector and to devise means of articulating business relationships between the German business firms and their Nigerian counterparts.
He said that members of his team, with interests in such areas as power generation, light machines for Small and Medium Enterprises, were having some challenges in sourcing inputs for their production as well as the issue of double taxation.
He pleaded that German companies doing business in Nigeria would appreciate being assured of the certainty in areas of currency control as it affects profit remittances.
The founder of the Afe Babalola University (ABUAD), Aare Afe Babalola, has promised not to impose financial sanctions on students to repair the damage done to the university’s property.
Some students went on the rampage on February 7, destroying university property.
Babalola, at a meeting yesterday with ABUAD Parents Teachers Consultative Forum (PTCF), said taking the step would “unjustifiably make the innocent pay for the sins of the guilty”.
Babalola said: “I have made up my mind not to impose financial sanctions on all the students as it is the practice in some other institutions .
“It has to be appreciated that those behind the February 7 disturbances were less than 200 of a total student population of 6,000.
“It will, therefore, be unfair, unjust and inequitable for me and/or the university to ask every student to pay for the sins and misconduct of just a few of them.
“If I do it, God will punish me. But I know for sure that the Almighty God, who provided the resources for me to establish the university, is still on the throne.
“He will provide the money to replace and repair the facilities damaged.
“I established this university for a purpose: to make a difference, to show how a university should be run and to make the students better than I am.
“But what a negligible few have done will not and cannot make us lose focus, neither will it discourage us.
“We have put our hands on the plough of quality and functional education, we will not look back.”
The PTCF praised the founder for not closing down the university.
It eulogised Babalola for his magnanimity.
PTCF’s Vice-President Prof Olusegun Oladimeji argued that closing down the university would have led to disruption of academic programmes.
Oladimeji added that it was the unwarranted closure of many a public university that has made students spend between seven and eight years four a four-year programme.
The don, therefore, urged higher institutions, public or private, to take a cue from Babalola’s uncommon maturity and understanding.
He thanked those who empathised and sympathised with the university in its hour of need.
The non-receipt of legal advice from the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) yesterday stalled the hearing of a criminal case against 31 students at an Ado-Ekiti Chief Magistrate’s Court.
The court presided over by Chief Magistrate Soji Adegboye adjourned the case till Friday, following a request by the police prosecutor, Sgt. Caleb Leramo.
Sixteen of the 31 students, were returned to the Ado-Ekiti prison custody as their parents and guardians cried when the prison vehicle left the court.
Adegboye had earlier stood down hearing to await legal advice from the DPP, which did not come after the court resumed.
Leramo then moved application for a short adjournment to wait further for legal advice, expressing optimism that it would have come at the next adjourned date.
He said: “There is no legal advice yet. I will, therefore, request for a short adjournment, hoping the advice would have arrived by then.”
The prosecutor also revealed that peace moves are ongoing between the parents and the university authorities.
Rosabon Financial Services has reiterated its commitment to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) financing. The firm has also clinched the ‘Best SME Financial Advisory Nigeria 2015 Awards given it by UK based Capital Finance International, CFI.co, an international print journal and an online resource reporting business and finance trends across the world.
The annual award, CFI.co said, seeks out individuals and organisations that contribute significantly to the convergence of economies and truly add value for all stakeholders.
To win the award, Rosabon Financial Services, along with two other Nigerian companies, was nominated by CFI.co audiences, and then shortlisted for further consideration by a panel. The CFI.co’s research team gathered additional information to help reach a final decision. The senior members of nominee management team provided the judges with a personal view on what sets their companies and institutions apart from the competition.
Rosabon was declared winner in this category based on its outstanding records on financial performance, risk management, corporate governance, customer services, innovation, Corporate Social Responsibility policies, market leadership, transparency, response to market demands and strength of nominations.
With the award, Rosabon has joined the league of top players in Nigerian corporate world such as Zenith Bank, Schlumberger Nigeria, CRC Credit Bureau, ARM Investment Managers and PricewaterhouseCoopers Nigeria which won different categories of the award.
Speaking on the award, Chief Executive Officer/Managing Director, Rosabon Financial Services, Chukwuma Ochonogor, said: “The CFI.Co award is a great recognition that reiterates Rosabon’s commitment to economic growth and development by providing fast, easy and reliable funding and advisory services to small and medium sized enterprises, to enable them run effectively as well as expand their businesses whilst creating jobs for the good of the economy”.
He said SMEs remains major economic drivers but there has been a huge gap in performing this role largely due to financing risks adding that his firm is committed to bridging the funding gap for SMEs.
“Rosabon Financial Services maintains one of the industry’s most successful client development strategies which have seen it multiply its revenue stream. The firm offers a full suite of products carefully crafted to fill the diverse needs of businesses across all sectors of the economy,” he said.
Rosabon’s Head of Strategy & Marketing, Chidimma Onyeokoro said: “We are grateful to CFI for recognizing our intent funding of SMEs.
Ecobank Nigeria has restated its commitment to be the leading Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) friendly and supporting bank in the country.
Speaking at a public forum in Lagos, Head, SME and Value Chain Banking, Ecobank Nigeria, Sunkanmi Olowo, said the various initiatives recently embarked upon by the bank were targeted at increasing funding and support to the SME sub-sector.
He stressed that, Ecobank having recognised SMEs as the engine room of the nation’s economic growth, would continue to step up support to the sub-sector.
Among various initiatives the bank had embarked on recently include: launching of SME Club, unveiling e-commerce online platform, MyMall, and training and providing financial support to some SMEs under the Ecobank New Venture Initiative’ (ENVI), among others.
The Ecobank SME Club aims to provide preferential business Support and tailored products and services to its teeming customers across the country. The SME Club serves as a platform for adding value to SMEs through information mining, networking and capacity building.
According to Sunkanmi, “The benefits of SME Club to customers are numerous. It offers business/capacity development and technical assistance; provides business, accounting, tax, legal and other services and platforms; B2B linkage across Africa; access to market information, economic updates, exchange rate information; international markets and finance; online marketing/sales (24/7); active support from government backed organisations and quarterly working sessions led by experts.”
Ecobank MyMall Nigeria is an online trading platform essentially for SME operators to sell and market their goods and services. The online marketplace, www.mymall.com.ng according to the bank, is targeted at driving the growth of the SME sub sector in Nigeria. He explained that MyMall is indicative of the already successful Ecobank SME club which had significantly impacted a number of SMEs by providing expert guidance and tools to properly establish and succeed at running an SME.
A partner with KPMG, Mr. Ayo Salami, has advised the Federal Government to stop illict financial flows into the country, adding that it hurts the economy.
He spoke with The Nation on the sideline of a workshop organised by the Industrial Group of Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) in Lagos.
He said illicit financial flows and unbridled importation stifle economic growth.
According to him, unscrupulous people import all manner of things under that guise, at the detriment of local industries. He however, argued that the blanket ban on key raw materials for the manufacturing sector is a minus to the growth of the sector and job creation in general.
The KPMG boss stressed the need to encourage local production and exportation of locally produced goods to earn foreign exchange (forex). This, he said, will make up for the shortfall experienced by manufacturers.
Salami urged the government to stop the importation of palm oil, regretting that what used to be a cash cow for the country is now imported with the scarce forex in the kitty of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
On the CBN’s forex restriction, Salami said government should have first addressed the structural weaknesses and inadequate public utilities/infrastructure that hamper the nation’s business environment.
One of these structural weaknesses, according to him, is the absence of tight border controls to curtail smuggling of products into the country. “It is important to curb the smuggling of these identified goods into the country to promote their local production,” he said.
Salami expressed regrets that many companies are relocating to neigbouring African countries as a result of government policies, which are hurting.
“The forex policy needs to be revisited to douse the tension over possible job loss. Massive job cut looms in the manufacturing sector; customs revenue is depleting; the construction sector is in a dire strait. It is therefore, imperative for the government to do the needful by reviewing the policy,” he said.
In the short term, he advised manufacturers to engage extensively with the CBN to postpone the policy and allow for the clearance of backlogs and orders already placed for raw materials, goods and services.
He further called for collaboration with local producers to exhaust all local supply channels, besides engaging the CBN for exemption to finance importation of inputs with no local substitute or where local capacity is inadequate.
In the medium term, he asked for the provision of update on shortfalls from local supply channels compared to demand to make way for importation. He argued that the blanket ban on raw materials in the medium term will not augur well for the economy.
The Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria will hold the 12th Annual Corporate Financial Reporting Summit and Dinner next week in Lagos. The theme for this year’s summit is “National Code of Corporate Governance for Nigeria: A new Dawn in Compliance.”
In a statement, Financial Reporting Council stated that the summit which is a follow up to the recently held public hearing on the national code of corporate governance for public and private organization as well as for the not-for-profit sector, would address issues revolving around compliance as the nation introduces a unified National code which would help strengthen good corporate governance system in Nigeria.
The five major presentations at the summit will include national code of corporate governance: developments from public hearing; imperatives of good corporate governance compliance in entrenching credible financial reporting; national code of corporate governance: a new dawn for public sector entities; national code of corporate governance: a new dawn for private sector entities; and national code of corporate governance: a new dawn for not-for-profit organizations.
NIGERIA lost $83.3 billion from 1960 to 2011 through illicit financial flows, Africa Development Bank (ADB) Country Office Director, Dr. Orismane Dore has said.
Dore, who spoke at the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) Investiture, held in Lagos, said the loss arose from over invoicing of imports and under-invoicing of exports.
Speaking on the theme: “Diversifying the Revenue Base of the Nigerian Economy: Strategy Options”, Dore, represented by the Chief Economist, AfDB, Nigeria Country, Zerihun Alemu, said the time to diversify the economy is now should be done by improving tax reform and tax administration to include potential additional tax payers. He said 75 per cent of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) were not in the tax system.
Improving the tax system, he said could help in boosting the revenue base, adding that Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) reports showed that 65 per cent of registered tax payers have not filed their tax returns.
He advised that tax collection be monitored to minimise tax exemption abuses under pioneer status, local content, export promotion, among others, adding that 30 per cent of companies abuse their tax exemption status.
Dore said the non-oil revenue is low due to low tax effort, where non-oil revenue to non-oil gross domestic product (GDP) is 4.6 per cent compared to 15 per cent low income economies and 19 per cent in emerging economies.
He cited low tax efficiency, low Value Added Tax (VAT) collection efficiency due to compliance issues and need for tax reform for the non-oil revenue mobilisation as measures that would help in diversifying the economy.
The deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Corporate Banking, Mr Adebayo Adelabu, said the country is experiencing tough times in the economic sphere because “we lost the opportunity to diversify the economy between 2009 to 2014 when there was stability in the economy and oil boom is the order of the day”.
Adelabu said diversification of the economy is a task for everybody, the government and the organised private sector (OPS) , as increased focus on agriculture, solid minerals and import substitution to promote local industries as being championed by the current regime will help the economy greatly.
The President/Chairman of Council, CIBN, Mrs. Debola Osibogun, in her welcome address said the theme of the investiture is apt at this moment as non-oil revenue declined by 34 per cent at the end of the first quarter of 2015 from the all time high of $3 billion it attained in 2011.
Osibogun, on the investiture, said the number of bankers honoured is the highest ever done by CIBN, which portends great things for the banking and financial sector, as she seeks continued professionalism from the bankers.
The Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN’s) financial inclusion project is motivating banks to take their services to the underserved, especially the youth. Sterling Bank is not only providing products and services to meet youths’ needs, it has also built an e-library and promoted financial literacy among them, writes COLLINS NWEZE.
Banking is no longer exclusive to adults. Children can also engage in the exercise, saving their ‘hard-earned’ resources in preparation for a prosperous future. Doing this requires the backing of not only their parents or guardians, but financial institutions that are committed to their financial future and education.
Sterling Bank Plc has not only shown commitment in getting the youths to know more about banking through its financial literacy schemes, but has introduced array of products with attached benefits to youthful savers.
• Adeola
The bank’s Managing Director/CEO, Yemi Adeola said funding and supporting education sector remains management’s priority. “The bank’s focus on education is strategic. It is looking at all actors in the value chain. For instance, it has set up an education desk to look at the total value chain of education, from suppliers of inputs to the end users. It intends to use its expertise to contribute to the development of the sector through a variety of initiatives,” bank said.
Continuing, he said: “Sterling Bank is poised to change the poor state of education sector in the country for good. Its focus is to enrich lives by adding value through quality capacity building and development as government alone cannot solve the problem of education in Nigeria. There is a need for the intervention of the private sector in the development of education to bring the sector back to its rightful place in the country. Government is doing its best, but we are not there yet”.
The bank chief believes the private sector must come in and invest in the education sector to enable the children get quality education without having to pay so much for it adding that its intervention in the sector will help to ameliorate some of the challenges currently affecting it.
He explained that in line with this objective, the bank introduced the ‘I-Can-Save’ Reward Scheme for its new and existing customers, who have opened and maintained a balance of N50,000 and N10,000 in their accounts. The customers, he said, will be rewarded with various types of gifts like school bags among others. The product provides other freebies such as exercise books, cultural heritage books, pencils and pens to children at the account opening point.
Explaining further, he said the parents can get school fees finance facility to bridge cash crunches experienced with instant financing for school fees. The product allows parents to put their kids in school while awaiting salaries and other receivables.
“Also, schools that open (or pledge) salary accounts for their teachers this season automatically qualify their teachers for our Personal Financial Management training,” he said.
The product, according to the bank, also gives account holders opportunity to acquire household equipment like refrigerating sets, television sets among others with flexible repayment schedule spread over three months at discounted rates.
“Through the product, schools can access facilities to bridge working capital gaps, expansion purposes and asset acquisition with a maximum tenor of 60 months at interest rates lower than the industry benchmark. The funds can be used for acquisition of school buses, generators, renovation, among others,” he said.
Adeola said the bank’s commitment to education motivated it to commission e-library built for the College of Education, Ikere-Ekiti, Ekiti State. It also presented branded uniforms for street sweepers and highway managers. The banker, who was commended by the state government for the projects, noted that the e-library project was meant to reposition the state’s education sector in line with the goals of government.
“We commend Sterling Bank for the e-library project. This shows its commitment as a responsible corporate citizen of this country to support government at repositioning the education sector in the country. With this development, Sterling Bank has keyed into the landmark programmes of the Ekiti State government towards providing quality education to our children,” the state government said.
Prof. Aladejana
Provost of the College, Prof. Francisca Aladejana said with the commissioning of the e-library, the institution has fulfilled one of the major requirements for which her academic programmes had been denied or granted interim accreditation in the recent past, by both the National Commission for Colleges of Education and the National Universities Commission (NUC).
“The e-library is the first product of any partnership with any organisation in the history of the college and we must commend Sterling Bank for this. Equipped with computers of high grade and broad bandwidth of a very high capacity to connect users with international libraries, the e-library is unquestionably at par with global standards. Such a facility can rarely be found in higher institutions in the country. Sterling Bank has indeed, put smiles on the faces of all stakeholders,” she said.
Adeola assured that the lender will continue to support educational institutions with projects that impact positively on the students.
The bank chief, who was represented by its Commercial Banking Business Executive for the southwest, Ademola Adeyemi, said the e-library will provide the students and other users with unlimited access to real time global educational resources that aid learning and research, adding that the project is part of the bank’s contributions towards improving the nation’s education sector under its ‘One Education’ initiative.
“Sterling Bank is known for innovation in several areas. As it concerns Education, which has become a major focus of the Bank. We believe our business is to enrich lives in innovative ways. When you invest in people, especially young people, you are enriching their lives and they will in turn enrich the society,”he said.
Also, in fulfillment of its commitment to raise the bar in education financing and support government efforts at repositioning the education sector, Sterling Bank Plc has rolled out various offerings that would make education funding easier.
The bank has also partnered with the Lagos EKO Project, using its staff as volunteer teachers to teach various subjects. “All of these are part of our corporate social responsibility to support education. Apart from that, bank has helped to improve the look and feel of some schools and is also supporting with books, writing materials, as well as textbooks. Its books ‘My Little Money Book’ and ‘Funds’, is its way of providing a learning/teaching guide on savings, loans and other financial concepts,” he said.
He continued: “Some other landmark events instituted by the bank include building of e-library for College of Education, IkereEkiti, Ekiti State; introduction of shopping dash to appreciate the students; provision of tablets for secondary and university students with pre loaded content to aid learning and research and also rolling out of various products and services for stakeholders in the education sector.”
Financial literacy
During this year’s Financial Literacy Week observed annually under the National Money Week, the bank put in place an initiative that would see it enriching the lives of children in the country, especially in the area of financial literacy. The bank said the exercise was part of its strategic focus on education and commitment to youth empowerment and development.
It also adopted a school in Port Harcourt where a team of staff under its Volunteers Teaching Programme and other top management staff, engage the children on financial literacy.
Adeola described the Sterling Volunteers team as a collection of dedicated and resourceful professionals, noting that the existing partnership with the Eko Project, an initiative of the Lagos State Government, would help address the challenges of inadequate teachers and consequently improve students’ performance in various examinations in the state. “The Sterling volunteers’ team will use the opportunity of this year’s programme to impart useful knowledge, discipline and patriotism to the younger generation,”he said.
He recalled that as part of the activities to mark the week last year, the bank supported the “We are the Future of our Nation” (WATFON) programme, an Initiative of Edumark Consult, which attracted over 3,500 final year pupils of secondary schools.
The Sterling Bank chief executive added that the programme provided opportunity for young Nigerians to meet and interact with accomplished professionals and national leaders in the society, who have excelled in their chosen endeavours.
The bank, according to him, demonstrated its commitment to youth empowerment through initiatives such as “Raise A Child” and the sponsorship of Computer Science Education Week (CSEdWeek), Hour of Code and a free Boot Camp for kids and adults to spread awareness of the need for computer science education among the youth in partnership with Audax.
Sterling Bank is also supporting the ‘Raise A Child Project’, which is aimed at putting smiles on faces of millions of children in the country and giving hope to those who need it most.
The project is an online fundraising platform that enables people, who are passionate about raising money for charitable causes the means to connect with donors and raise money securely online to put smiles on millions of children across the nation this season of love.
The bank’s Group Head, Strategy & Communications, Shina Atilola, said the Raise A Child Project’ was to enable the lender to give back to the society particularly the children in continuation of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) disposition especially at a time when they needed to be shown love and care.
“This is a mission dedicated to support our children through different charities across Nigeria. It goes a long way to show how much Sterling cares about the children and the extent to which the society, the general public, who are expected to make a difference by supporting the Sterling Bank through online donations care about the Nigerian child. However, Sterling Bank will match every naira donated towards the course by members of the general public,” he said.
Capacity Building
As part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) drive towards supporting skill acquisition among youths to prepare them for self-employment, Sterling Bank Plc has signed a partnership agreement with Field of Skills and Dreams (FSD), a vocational training institution that provides training programmes for members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
Under the agreement, the bank will sponsor the training of NYSC corps members in various vocations during the course of their service year to align with its expressed purpose of enriching lives. The bank has also funded the training of about 100 NYSC members in various vocations during the pilot stage through the NYSC-Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development.
It has equally equipped a 20-seat ICT laboratory of the FSD, which will provide all participants with rotational access to free ICT training.
Sterling Bank in a statement explained that the need to support the development of skills among the youth has become inevitable given the growing rate of unemployment in the country. “We believe that the steps we have taken so far would help in ameliorating the problem of unemployment in the country and support other initiatives such as the Youth Empowerment Scheme (YES) and the Youth Enterprise with Innovation in Nigeria (YOU-WIN) introduced by the government to checkmate the relatively high rate of unemployment in the country,” it said.
The Murtala Muhammed Foundation (MMF) and Cherie Blair Foundation (UK), have urged the government to establish financial structures for supporting women to expand the frontiers of business development.
Speaking at an event tagged “Evening of Celebration, Experience Sharing and Networking” organised by the foundation in Ikoyi, Lagos, Chief Executive Officer of Murtala Muhammed Foundation (MMF), Mrs. Aisha Murtala-Oyebode said there were a lot of challenges which budding women entrepreneurs experience. She added that if they receive help in terms of financial structures, their businesses will grow.
Mrs. Aisha also advised the government not to make financial access difficult for women so that they would contribute towards the development of the economy.
“It is important to create structures that will support women in terms of finance. Though they could have good mentors who help them in developing their businesses, if they don’t have access to finance, their businesses won’t grow.
“So, what we need is the government to help us develop that capacity so that Nigeria women can attain their goals. It’s a one-year-programme and the women are doing extremely well.
“It is not about financing alone; we have to stop making access to finance for women difficult. It is important that women maintain their families and keep their homes. At the same time, they need financial independence if they should realise their potential,” she added.
She also advised women to be determined and not to be discouraged in their businesses.
Continuing, she said: “We can do it and if we are determined, we are the ones who will help break some of those barriers that we talk about across the continent. We have the capacity; we can lead so that others will follow. Men should always support their wives.”
In a chat with Southwest Report, Dr. Dotun Akande of Patrick Speech and Language Centre also called on the government to train and support women in different fields.
He said: “What I think the government should do for women is the provision of capacity building which is key. When you train a woman, she trains the nation. It is important that government should continue to support women in terms of training in every field such as education, health, wellness and farming, among others. This is very important because if you support a woman you have supported the entire family.”
During their presentation, women mentors from different fields complained about the Nigeria educational sector.
President, International Federation of Business and Professional Women, Mrs Titilayo Adisa said the government should include thinking skill in school curriculum to help discover creativity and problem solvers among the students.
“I want the school curriculum, from primary to the tertiary levels to include robotics planning in their curricula because if we are able to make thinking skill as part of our curricula, the thinking skill will allow us do creative and innovative thinking.
“Again, we will have problem solvers. From youth, one can learn how to do other things because creativity is as important to education as literacy,” she said.
Women should serve as change agent because the more we give to the society the more it gets better. It is not about the money but the passion.
The Kwara State government is working out ways to resolve its financial crisis. The drastic reductions in the federal allocation to state governments as a result of sustained fall in crude oil prices in the global market has posed huge financial challenges to many states in the federation, Kwara being one of them.
Determined to overcome these challenges, the state governor Abdulfatah Ahmed signed into law the bill establishing the Kwara State Internal Revenue Service (KWIRS). The law empowers the agency to collect and manage revenue on behalf of the state government and its local councils.
Determined to expand the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) base of the state, Governor Ahmed gave the Service a target of N2 billion for the state every month, as against the monthly average of N700 million it currently generates.
This according to him would make the state less reliant on allocations from the federal government.
He said that the monthly federal allocation that comes to Kwara had dropped from N2.2 billion to N1.4 billion, adding that the monthly wage bill of the state is fluctuating between N2.7 billion and N2.8 billion.
The agency apart from its primary function of collection and management of revenue is also expected to promote policies and actions that will check and block all revenue leakages.
The agency is also expected to carry out constant checks and balances on finances of the various ministries, departments and agencies in the state, the governor charged.
Based on the the successes recorded by the Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) and Ogun State Internal Revenue Service (OIRS), the state government recently invited the representatives of both agencies to share their experience in revenue collection and management with the officials of KWIRS.
It was gathered at the meeting, the officials of LIRS and OIRS shared the scope of their operations with their KWIRS counterparts.
They also talked about what they have been doing right that has helped revenue collection and tax administration in their respective states. KWIRS is expected to adopt e-payment for revenue collection as no cash payment will be allowed.
Curiously, the establishment of KWIRS has generated a lot of furore, as many Kwarans view it as a euphemism for another round of heavy tax burden on individuals and businesses.
The governor has dispelled such insinuations, saying that it was primarily set up to ensure efficiency in revenue collection and management.
Said he: ”The Kwara State Internal Revenue Service will not impose fresh taxes on individuals and businesses in the state. The agency is only authorised to assess and enforce payment of due taxes, levies, fees and charges in the state. KWIRS will make revenue collection and management more efficient.
“Given the reality of the present day where the country’s financial earnings from the sales of crude oil has depleted due to a sustained decline in world oil price, expanding IGR base of a state is one big deal that must be taken seriously to ensure the proper and effective running of the state. It is paramount for states to generate more funds to do more projects.
Against this background, Governor Ahmed has been meeting with various stakeholders in the state to solicit their collaboration and support for the state renewed IGR drive. The first set of people he met were the chairmen of local government councils in the state. There are sixteen local councils in the state and the largest of this council generates N200, 000 as its monthly revenue, it was discovered.
During the meeting, he charged the council chairmen on the need for them to increase revenue generation in their respective councils.
He said “obviously, there is a need for us to significantly increase our revenue to further meet the yearnings of our people. I, therefore, challenge you to fashion out innovative means by which you can generate more revenue in your respective councils, as we have a responsibility to increase the quality of life of our people.”
Also, the governor met with Directors of Finance and Supplies (DFS) in all ministries within the state. At the meeting, it was gathered that the governor told the directors to brace up for the new challenges and work together with the state revenue agency in meeting its targets.
He also underscored the importance of civil servants to key-into the new scheme of tax administration in the state.
In another meeting with the heads and bursars of the state-owned tertiary institutions, Governor Ahmed was said to have urged authorities of the institutions to support the state government’s drive in expanding its revenue base.
He added that no form of blackmail and misinformation would deter his administration from implementing measures that would boost the state IGR.
His words: “While it is common for some people to resist change, the best interest of the people must prevail at all times. No form of blackmail and misinformation will deter our administration from implementing measures that will boost the Internally Generated Revenue of the State.” He has therefore directed all the nine state-owned tertiary institutions to open a single revenue accounts for fees and other payments in a pilot exercise that have been extended to all revenue generating agencies in the state.
He also instructed to close all other revenue accounts maintained in commercial banks across the state. The aim is to enable the government to monitor the management of the institutions’ finances.
The governor was said to have assured the institutions will continue to receive budgeted funds from the state government at the appropriate time and that the government only desire is to ensure efficiency in revenue generation and management, stressing that the State could only survive the current economic crisis in the country though an enhanced internally generated revenue system.
Governor Ahmed added that heads of tertiary institutions in the state have an opportunity to demonstrate their managerial skills as they migrate from inefficiency in revenue generation to levels of sufficiency.
He added that all ministries, departments and agencies are also barred from opening bank accounts or obtaining bank loans without authorization from the office of the Accountant-General.
Ahmed called on banks to key into the government’s new revenue drive and avoid any actions capable of contravening the new revenue law, saying the government will not hesitate to review.
Governor Ahmed also tasked traditional rulers in the state to help sensitise their subjects on the issue, describing traditional rulers as symbols of an institution that once thrived on taxation.
The governor noted that it was important that key stakeholders like the traditional institution assisted the state revenue generating agency in ensuring that the people of the state comply with the increased revenue generation drive by paying taxes.
“No society can develop and thrive without a robust system for collecting, managing and utilising tax renewed for collective benefit. Consequently, increasing our Internally Generated Revenue is the only way to reduce our dependence on unstable federal allocation”.
“We also need to raise the necessary funds for infrastructural development and empowering our people, especially the youths. I call on you to be at the forefront of our drive to raise revenue to build higher quality schools, more hospitals, better roads, ensure more reliable electricity and create an environment conducive to our people’s prosperity,” the governor said.
