The treasurer of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Edo State Chapter, Alhaji Saliu Momoh has described Edo State Tax Reforms as one of the best in Nigeria.
Speaking with newsmen recently in Benin City, Alhaji Saliu Momoh said that at the inception of Governor Adams Oshiomhole led administration, reformed and repositioned the Board of Internal Revenue to enable government maximize its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).
Alhaji Saliu Momoh said the decision was a most courageous and purposeful move, as it seeks to institutionalize and make tax revenue administration more efficient, equitable and transparent.
He said the result of the repositioned tax system in the state is the infrastructural development the people are now enjoying.
Alhaji Saliu Momoh, a former staff of the Ministry of Finance, Lagos State, also hailed the establishment of Tax Assessment Review Committee (TARC) as a key element of reform policy to support the operations of the state Internal Revenue Service (EIRS).
The TARC he said since inception had ensured transparent, fair and equitable treatment of all parties involved in tax matters, notably the tax payers, tax administrators and the state Government.
He praised the State Government for coming up with a strategic plan 2010-2020 as part of measures to improve revenue generation in the state.
According to him, the strategic plan (2010-2020) was developed to focus on four key areas namely, Human Capital, Infrastructural and operational logistics, Automation of the revenue collection and accounting process and Corporate Governance Reforms.
Ahaji Momoh posited that through the strategic plan which was developed through SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunity, threats) analysis in highlighting the weakness and threat facing the collection of revenue, the following challenges were tackled.
Poor work environment, dilapidated physical infrastructure, offices not purposely built to house revenue generation operations, inadequate vehicles for revenue assessment /enforcement, poor power supply, no reliable database, inadequate ICT facilities, poor communication network, authority, limitation, low level inter-departmental linkages, poor remuneration packages, etc.
He praised the Edo State Internal Revenue Service under the leadership of Chief Oseni Elamah for introducing the Point of Sale (PoS) machine terminals system in other to minimize, if not completely eliminate areas of revenue leakages.