Rising cases of kidnapping, banditry, terrorism, and robbery in the north-western region of Nigeria are threatening Kaduna State’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), which hit N50.8 billion, making it the fifth highest revenue collector in 2020.
Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) show that the state climbed to the fifth position in the country, overtaking every other in the Northern region except the Federal Capital Territory, trailing behind Lagos, Rivers, FCT, and Delta states.
The increased revenue for the state means its citizens can realistically expect the government to better fund social and infrastructure programmes that would lead to a better standard of life for the people.
“The state has digitalised its revenue collection processes, and this has helped to reduce leakages and wastages,” said Ayodeji Ebo, head, retail investment, Chapel Hill Denham, in a telephone response to questions.
“Also, Kaduna State has been deliberate in encouraging big investors to invest in the state by giving them some incentives and the results are showing now,” Ebo said.
According to Ebo, the adoption of technology in revenue collection has helped stem the tide of revenue loss and this will help fund social and infrastructural projects in the state.
Between 2019 and 2020, Kaduna with an estimated population of 12 million people grew its IGR from N44.9 billion to N50.8 billion, a 12.9 percent increase.
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The state generated most of its revenue for the period from taxes – N27.7 billion, which include pay-as-you-earn (PAYE), direct assessment, road taxes, and other taxes.
Also, the state generated N23 billion revenue from its Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) for 2020.
The state has attracted big players in the agro-allied industry such as Olam, which made a $150 billion investment to set up two state-of-the-art animal feed mills, poultry breeding farms and a hatchery to produce day-old chicks in 2016.
“It is not surprising that Kaduna State is doing well in IGR. If you look at the state rankings on performance in ease of doing business in Nigeria, the state ranks among the top in the country,” said Muda Yusuf, director-general, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI).
“Secondly, Kaduna has been relatively peaceful when compared to other states in the north-western region. So, there has been a lot of economic movement,” Yusuf said.
In 2018, Kaduna was ranked fifth as the best state to do business in Africa’s most populous country with a DTF score of 81.43 in the World Bank Doing Business in Nigeria report.
Since assuming office in 2015, Governor Nasir el-Rufai has set out to grow the state’s IGR by four times by 2023 when his second term in office will come to an end.
He laid down bold reforms in its revenue collection processes and this had helped in increasing the state’s IGR consistently since then.
Zaid Abubakar, executive chairman, Kaduna State Internal Revenue Service (KADIRS) in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria last November, said the state had developed strategies to increase its IGR.
“Our goal is to see that the IGR contributes more than 60 to 70 percent of the state annual budget. This is a long-term plan but I believe if we are consistent with our approach, we will get there,” he said.
Investigation by BusinessDay shows that the consistent rise in Kaduna revenue was well planned and the execution delivered to safe hands.
The key pillars of the raise in the IGR strategy include the professionalism of the state’s internal revenue service, the infusion of technology, and a robust know-your-people scheme that involved the enumeration of households in the state.
