Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State has threatened to disband the newly inaugurated State Board of Internal Revenue, if it fails to increase revenue generations within three months.
According to the governor, the state government is running a deficit on internal generation revenue (IGR) which is one of the key projections.
This was contained in a statement issued by the Press Secretary to the governor, Christian Abaruime on Thursday.
According to the statement, Soludo made the threat while inaugurating the new members of Anambra State Board of Internal Revenue.
He charged the board members to expeditiously increase the state’s internal generated revenue within first three months or face dissolution.
According to Soludo, the Internal Revenue Service is the life-blood of all government operations, noting that “if it doesn’t work, nothing works.”
He said that the results of IGR are not even close to 50percent of what he anticipated to achieve.
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The governor said that he expected to have the revenue body doubled its initial revenue within its first four months.
“The state government should be making more than N3 billion per month, which has yet to happen, and that the 2023 budget is expected to generate N4 billion per month, stressing that the Anambra State government is running a deficit on IGR, which is one of the key projections.
“FAAC allocations are unpredictable, but we have an economy with an estimated value of up to 5 trillion naira.
“It is critical to highlight the enormous potentials that exist, as well as the appropriate benchmarks and targets.
“If we have a 5 trillion naira estimate and collect 1percent, that is 60 billion naira per year. If we collect 2percent, that’s 120 billion naira per year, or a minimum of ten billion naira per month on average. If we receive 5percent of income, we will have 300 billion naira per year.
“As of Monday, we were dangling around 1billion naira per month, which is extremely low.
“You can see how far we are doing in relation to the potentials that exist,” Soludo said.
He further hinted that the internal revenue service requires a 180-percent turnaround, stating that the current path taken will not get them very far because they have been trying it for a year.
“Members of this board must get to work right away because there is a lot of work ahead of them.
“We will interface and evaluate performance every three months. It will have a high mortality rate and a three-month life span. If this board fails, we will disband it and create a new one,” he said.
BusinessDay gathered that the terms of Reference of the Anambra State Board are: “Providing general policy guidelines regarding the functions of the State Internal Revenue Service and supervising implementation of such policies.
“Ensuring the effective and optimum collection of all revenue, including levies and penalties due to the State Government under the relevant Federal and State Laws.
“Doing all such things that may be deemed necessary and expedient for the assessment and collection of all revenue.
“Accounting for all amount so collected in a manner to be prescribed by the Governor, and Making recommendations where appropriate to the Joint Tax Board on tax policy, tax reform, tax registration, tax treaties and exemption as may be required from time to time.”
They also include “Appointing, Promoting, Transferring and imposing discipline on employees of the State Internal Revenue Service.
“Making Recommendations to the Governor regarding the terms and conditions of employment and remuneration of staff of the Internal Revenue Service.
“Controlling the management of the State Internal Revenue Service on matters of policy, subject to the provisions of any regulations setting up the State Internal Revenue Service, and, doing such other things as are in the opinion of the Board necessary to ensure the efficient performance of the functions of the State Revenue Service under the Law.”
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