Newly-appointed Chairman of Imo Internal Revenue Service (IIRS), Mr Ifeanyi Okeke, has pledged accelerated increase in the state’s internally-generated revenue (IGR).
Okeke, who made the pledge while speaking with newsmen in Owerri on Thursday, expressed his determination to drive the state’s IGR from N900m to N2.5b in three months.
Okeke, a banker and chartered accountant, also promised to bring his wealth of experience in tax system to bear in the discharge of his new assignment.
The IIRS chairman said that in line with his mandate from Gov. Hope Uzodimma, he would endeavour to transform the organisation and make it one of the most enviable tax agencies in Nigeria.
“I am in a hurry to bring the desired change and leave a lasting legacy, especially in the area of conviviality between taxpayers and the tax authority.
“I have a mandate and I promise to shift from the old ways where taxpayers see taxmen as bogeymen and move into the era of voluntary tax compliance in Imo “, he said.
According to him, his short-term vision for the agency is to build a system that will ensure that all tax and non-tax revenues are collected and leakages blocked.
He also said that his medium-term vision was to establish a system that would encourage voluntary tax compliance and bring all taxpayers in the state into the tax net.
Okeke assured the people of the state that IIRA would become the major funding arm of the state by entrenching a sustainable system of tax administration and efficient revenue collection in the long term.
“We will bring more businesses, especially in the informal sector, into the tax nets through enumeration and quick resolution of pending issues between IIRS and unions/associations.
“We will ensure strict adherence to payment of all tax revenues into the state’s treasury single account (TSA) by leveraging the existing revenue laws and developing the right technology to improve revenue collections,” he said. (NAN)
