Edo State Records 25% Increase In IGR In Two Years

Edo’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) has recorded a leap from N1.55 billion recorded in 2016 when Gov. Godwin Obaseki took over as governor of the state, to an average of N2billion.

This accounts for a 25% increase in the state’s earning within the period under review.

With the implementation of the newly developed Edo Revenue Administration System (ERAS), the state government is optimistic that the IGR of the state will further increase in the last quarter of the year.

The Executive Chairman, Edo Internal Revenue Service (EIRS), Mr Igbinudu Inneh, made this development known to newsmen in Benin on Monday.

He said the number of verified and unverified persons in the state government tax net had increased from 120,000 in 2016 to 250,000 in 2018.

He said that 50 persons are currently being trained with a view to sending them out to confirm the status of additional 140,000 people that were biometrically captured within the last two years.

According to Inneh, Gov. Godwin Obaseki, on assumption of office identified six critical success factors for revenue generation at the inception of his administration.

The success indicators include technology, data, human capital development, stakeholders engagement, public enlightenment and man power development.

“We started out in trying to develop an Edo Revenue Administration System which relies on technology, but technology on its own will not do it for you, you need human intervention.

“We now want to make sure we know those in the informal sector and know how much they have paid.

“For once, they will have a citizen identity that the government can relate with.

“The discount on the cards is the wealth that will trickle down, and those collecting money illegally before will have opportunity to buy the cards and sell to make money.

“We have done enumeration in the local government and we have all the buildings and their GPS coordinates.

“Vehicle owners will now be getting alerts on the anniversary of their vehicle renewal, because we have their house address.” he said.

Inneh added that the desire of the state governor to create job and distribute wealth instigated the governor to come up with the ERAS initiative.

“Expanding the tax net is some Of the features the automation will help us to do.

“Each tax payer has a tax profile on the system, so you can ask for a single tax assessment view,” he said.