…Arrest six fake tax collectors, to seal more banks
From: Linus Oota, Lafia
Acting Chairman, Nasarawa State Board of Internal Revenue Service, Alhaji Usman Okposhi, has explained that the board, under his leadership, was to set a target of about N25 billion monthly internally generated revenue (IGR) for the state.
Mr. Okposhi said he intended to borrow a leaf from the people that had done it well in the past, using Lagos State as a case study.
He also disclosed that the board, in its efforts to block loopholes/leakages in the state, arrested and detained six fake revenue tax collectors in Karu Local Government Area of the state for printing fake receipts and fake plate numbers.
The Chief Tax Officer of the state noted that the board would soon seal up commercial banks for excess charges on government accounts.
Okposhi who stated this, on Wednesday, in Lafia, while speaking to newsmen on the performance of the board under his leadership explained that since the creation of the state 21 years ago, the state has not had it so good in terms of revenue generation until he came on board.
According to him, “From 1996 when the state was created to 1999 during the military era, the IGR of the state was about N20 million monthly, and from 1999 up to 2011 the IGR of the state was between N80 to N90 million monthly.
“Until I took over and increase it to over N300 million monthly which is the first of its kind in the history of the state and its keep increasing, it is my prayer that one day, we can replicate what Lagos is doing in Nasarawa by generating up to N25 billion a month”
He explained that the state government had at different times engages the services of consultants who took over the board with a target but folded up without meeting the targets, adding that the governor of the state was impressed with what he has done and has donated to the board four operational vehicles to encourage him.
On the allegations that he connived with illegal tax collectors and banks to defraud the state of its share of percentage on income tax being deducted, Okposhi explained that the board did not collect tax from organisations or banks directly as it was paid through a bank account with tellers which are all documented.
Okposhi added that the recent problem between the board and some commercial banks, in Lafia, which led to seal up their premises was that they refused to remit to the board tax deducted from individual accounts and denied the board’s consultant the opportunity to audit their records on these accounts
He explained that at no point did Olam Farms Nigeria Limited paid tax amounting to N200 million monthly as alleged, adding that the highest tax Olam Farms had paid was N1.3 million monthly, saying that it was very easy to detect its fake receipts because it was printed by the Milting and Printing Company in Lagos with security features embedded in it.