400, 000 people pay tax in Kogi ―Govt

THE Kogi state government said it had increased the number of people that pay tax in the state to 400, 000.

The executive chairman of the Kogi Internal Revenue Service (KGIRS), Yakubu Oseni, who disclosed this to newsmen in Lokoja, the state capital, on Wednesday, said the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the state had increased to N1 billion per month averagely.

According to him, the present administration in the state had been making deliberate efforts at making the state self-reliant through sustainable IGR.

He explained that the state governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, had given the organisation a target of N3 billion monthly IGR generation.

To achieve the target, he said the KGRIS had embarked on total reorganisation that led to the employment of professionals that had been driving the activities of the organisation.

He said efforts were on to increase the number of taxpayers in the state with attention being given to corporate tax and other redundant tax avenues.

“The state before we took over was generating N300 million monthly in IGR, but now we have hit one billion naira on the average after blocking all the leakages.

“Though the state governor gave the agency N3 billion monthly targets the recession in the country was one of the reasons the agency was yet to meet its target.

“Now that the economic experts said the country is recovering from recession, we believe that in a no distant time, we shall meet up with the governor’s target.”