Prince Sekat,Jos
Plateau state Governor Simon Lalong on Thursday inaugurated the Plateau state revenue council and the Governing council of the state Internal Revenue Service .
Speaking at the occasion held at the New Government House in Jos ,Lalong said ,Today marks another milestone in our journey as a State, towards improved revenue generation and self-sufficiency. This event provides me an opportunity to set the tone for the full implementation of the new Plateau State (Consolidated) Revenue Law, also known as the Revenue Law 2020, which I expeditiously assented to, in November 2020.
He said that It is no longer news that there has been a remarkable decline in revenue allocation to States, from the Federation Account. This is primarily occasioned by the continuous fall in crude oil prices in the international market, and most recently, the dreaded Covid-19 pandemic which has ravaged the world for over a year now.
Lalong further said Even before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, our administration has continued to make frantic efforts towards improving the revenue profile of the State by looking inwards for more internally generated revenue. Instructively, experts’ projections indicate that Plateau State has an internal revenue capacity of more than N5 Billion Naira per month.
He said that This explains why before the disruption caused by COVID-19, our administration was able to jerk up its Internally Generated Revenue from about six hundred million naira monthly in 2015 to about nine hundred million in 2019. This shows that the projection by experts is in the right direction and we can actually do far more than we have been doing if we put our house in order.
5. Over the years, the decentralized operation of State MDAs and other revenue generating agencies have created structural and technical gaps, which reduce the efficiency and effectiveness of revenue generation and collection in the State.
Lalong further said In line with my firm resolve to address this challenge and improve the revenue profile of our dear State, my administration engaged Compliance Professionals Plc. (CPP), a reputable tax consortium, to help steer the transformation of revenue administration across the State, including at Local Government levels.
” Our engagement with CPP led to an in-depth assessment of the current state of the IGR environment in Plateau State and the dissection of the 2017 Revenue Law which gave birth to the new Plateau State (Consolidated) Revenue Law, also known as the Revenue Law 2020, which I signed into law at the close of 2020. I want to once again appreciate the Rt. Hon. Speaker and Honourable Members of the State House of Assembly for their thorough and expeditious passage of the bill. “
He said This journey has led to the development and implementation of the plan to effectively transit from the current state to a harmonized internal revenue generation and collection system, thereby improving efficiency and effectiveness and significantly increasing bottom lines.
“As a result of this, a new and viable template called Plateau State Revenue Generation Project has been developed by the CPP. This is expected to be a game changer because it seeks to completely rethink the way and manner in which revenues in the state are generated and ultimately make Plateau an example for other States to emulate.”
He further said” A very vital part of the project approach and organization is the Harmonized Revenue Administration Process Redesign (HRAPR). This approach seeks to Implement the right revenue administration process across all MDAs and LGCs, and ultimately across all main revenue lines with priority on areas of high revenue capture. The main aim is to ensure that changes in this project are institutionalized.”
Consequently, the project is broken down into series of goals or waves. The First Focus Wave which covers the period of February
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