The executive chairman of the Enugu State Internal Revenue Service, Mr. Ekene Nnamani, has said that the state is targeting a monthly internally generated revenue (IGR) of N20 billion in the coming year.
Nnamani, who disclosed this to reporters in Enugu, said that would immensely help the state in funding the 2024 budget. Governor Peter Mbah had last Tuesday signed the N521.6 billion budget for 2024 into law.
The IRS chairman disclosed that in 2024, the state would be moving to another disruptive way of collecting revenue in the state, having concluded sensitisation across all sectors and stakeholders.
He said: “You can’t be talking about revenue collection and be talking about collecting N3 billion in a month. No. That’s not where we are going. Where we are going is to be raking in N10 billion to N20 billion monthly. That’s the only way we can sustain this level of budget His Excellency, Governor Peter Mbah has planned for 2024. And that’s where we’ll be next year.
“So, let nobody think that we’re coming to open your house and collect all the money in your house. No.
“So, let nobody confuse you to say tax doesn’t give revenue. Every developed country in the world pays tax. You can’t develop a country through donor countries or agencies. If that is possible, the whole of Africa would have developed by now.
“It’s like a beggar trying to build a massive duplex through begging. That’s what Africa is trying to do by begging”.
Nnamani, who insisted that Enugu State is among the rich states in Nigeria, however lamented that overtime, the state had not utilized the resources available to it.
“What makes Enugu not be poor is that Enugu has land. Enugu has buildings. We have data that shows that Enugu has over 500,000 buildings. A state that has 500,000 buildings, how can you say that such a state is poor? The state is not poor.
“Again, Enugu has the highest value of land in the entire Southeast. There are some parts of Enugu that land is selling above N100 million. How can you call it a poor state?”, he queried.
He disclosed that where the state is headed next year is that “we want to make sure that every part of the city pays Land Use Charge. So, we’re going to scale up land use charge collection next year. We’re going to scale up tax on rents both in residential and commercial buildings. So, this is where we’re going next year.
“We also want to make sure that every single company is captured in tax collection.
“Also, in tax filing, we want to ensure that people file return of their taxes. It’s not enough to say you have paid your taxes, you need to file it.
These are what we’ll be doing next year and we believe that the budget we have made which everybody is saying is not possible, people will see how it is possible. It will shock everybody is the state when by the close of next year, we will be telling you our stories. The question then will be, ‘how did you do it?’
